Unexpected Circumstances
by XxLiz2463xX
Summary: RE-UPLOADED! Follow the original Survivors, plus three more, as they struggle to make it through the zombie apocalypse while overcoming many unexpected obstacles along the way. Appearances by the L4D2 cast later on with each campaign consisting of a different plot.
1. No Mercy: Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Sorry I deleted this story, but it was so all over the place that I **_**had**_** to. Now that senior year is done and so is college stuff, I have time to work on it and hopefully make it better than last time. Also, to clarify: When I put each campaign in the summary, I only meant No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air, Blood Harvest, The Sacrifice, and The Passing. No Crash Course; why, because it's too short–although I **_**will**_** be making reference to it when we cross that bridge later on. And, if you guys don't mind, I decided to add interesting facts about the characters you meet along the way. Example: This chapter features some.**

**DISCLAIMER: Valve owns Left 4 Dead and all its respective characters; if **_**I**_** owned it, Bill wouldn't have died.**

* * *

Chapter 1

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "When things go back to normal, Zoey, Bill, I'm giving you both jobs. Francis, I'm gonna teach yo ass how to read." ~Louis**

When the first cases of the coughs and sneezes showed up, he could never have predicted how quickly it would take over. The city he once knew with its bustling streets now closely resembled that of a horror movie. There was no one now; the lucky ones had managed to escape the city as the Infection spread. The unlucky ones mutated into decaying life forms, figurative zombies with a lust for gore. Unlike the zombies in the old school horror movies, these didn't want to eat brains. They had only one goal: To massacre people, dismember the bodies, and literally paint the streets red. That's all they wanted to do, and judging how many were crawling around, it wouldn't take them long to dispose of a single, unfortunate person.

He had never believed zombies were real, he just thought they were make-believe things like vampires and wizards. The first time he had seen an Infected, it was covered with blood, making guttural sounds that sounded neither human nor animal, and it had run for him with inhumanly speed, its yellow pupils gleaming at the chance of mutilating someone. Before, he could walk around without fear, but now he couldn't take two steps without glancing over his shoulder.

These Infected scared him, but not even the fear would let him admit defeat. He was either going to survive or drag a bunch of those damn zombies down with him. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a loud humming rang in his ears. Awe-struck, he listened intently to the words that would bring hope for him and his companions as a helicopter whizzed by.

"To anyone who can hear this, proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation! Repeat: Proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation!"

_Mercy Hospital?_ he wondered, blinking raindrops from his eyelashes. _Why couldn't they have picked us up here?_

"Hey Luigi, are you there?"

Startled, he watched a hand waving wildly in his face. He whipped out his own hand to catch the other.

"I'm here, William. Did you see the helicopter? It said to go to Mercy Hospital." he told his older brother. William wore a red shirt with plain blue jeans and black-and-white Vanz. The bangs of his brown hair were spiked up, showing off his dark blue eyes and face sketched into seriousness. Before the Infection, William used to be laidback and happy, but now he was contemplative all the time.

The older nodded. "I heard it, we all did." He gestured over to a table. "Look, Bill found some guns, ammo, and med packs on that table. Hurry up and grab something, we're leaving asap."

Luigi nodded and hurried over to the table. He inspected the items closely before grabbing some ammo and shoving the shells into his pant pocket. Along with that, he grabbed the last med kit.

_Time for guns, my favorite part! _He locked his bright blue gaze on the submachine gun and pump shotgun. Settling with the submachine gun, he placed his pistol in the holster by his hip before taking the gun in his hand and loading it. He looked at his fellow companions and nodded to tell them he was ready.

"Alright let's do this!" Francis, a gruff biker with tattoos who believed himself to be indestructible, said.

Bill, an old war veteran with a commanding attitude, nodded and headed for the door that led into the obliterated apartment complex. Francis followed, eager to blow a few zombie heads off. Zoey, a young woman who liked to lift the group's spirits with jokes, walked after them with Louis, a soft-spoken business man, behind. Luigi hesitated and felt something beside him.

"Weegee, are you going to be okay?" William asked before smiling lightly and adding, "I won't let those things get you. I swear it."

Luigi smiled in return. "I'll be fine, William, just a little shaken up from earlier."

"I know right? That damn Tank almost killed us!"

"Boys are you coming?" Bill called to them, rather impatient.

Muttering an apology, Luigi scurried over with William behind. When they reached the group, Bill kicked open the door, turned on his flashlight, and cautiously stepped inside. Louis and the rest of the group followed, with Luigi hiding at the back of the pack.

An angry voice rattled behind him. "What's the hold up? You're not hurt, kid, so get a move on!" It was Francis.

Cursing the biker out silently, Luigi reluctantly walked into the apartment building and down the short flight of stairs, turning on his flashlight as he did so. He could see dead bodies; debris littered the ground and a few blood spots here and there. He felt sick at the sight of the bodies and blood and over-whelming horror took hold of his body.

The abandoned building really did look like a horror movie.

Quickly stepping over the bodies, he made his way into the kitchen. He heard Bill calling from ahead, "Take the subway tunnels to the hospital. There's a red line station not far from here." Spotting William, Luigi quickly scampered over and stayed close to his side as they walked past the living room, the tv was on but showing static. He heard Francis mumbling about hating something but he could have cared less.

"Why go to the subway tunnels?" he whispered to his brother. "Wouldn't it be easier to head to the hospital once we get into the streets?"

"Well, yeah, but I think Bill has a good idea." William responded. "The apartment complex we're in right now is located deep in the heart of the once-thriving metropolis of Fairfield–now overrun with hordes of infected. So I say we do what the old man tells us to do."

Luigi didn't reply. William looked at him sympathetically when he realized his brother was shivering uncontrollably. The teen wasn't really known for his courage, so it was understandable that he was scared.

"I wonder if the Infected can smell fear?" William wondered quietly.

"I wouldn't be surprised considering how much this pansy here is shaking!" Francis scoffed, overhearing.

Before Luigi could make a snide remark, Zoey glared at the biker from over her shoulder. "Cut it out Francis!" she snapped. "We're all scared, not just Luigi."

"Well, all of us except for you Francis." Louis said from further ahead.

The biker grumbled and took up his position at the rear again. The group of six Survivors left the living room behind and turned to go through an open door with Bill leading them confidently. Waiting at the end of the stairs was the unmistakable figure of an Infected. It growled, realizing their approach but was quickly silenced by Bill. The old man turned into a hallway and opened fire on one standing in a doorway of another room while Louis shot the other standing in another doorway. As they entered the room, three Infected were occupying it.

Bill, Louis, and Zoey quickly cleared the area. Luigi looked at another tv sitting on a drawer, hypnotized by the bright colors on the screen. He turned his head to see William making his way to a door on the left side of the room, a hole gouged through it.

The group made their way into the kitchen and through a hole in the wall leading to what seemed to be a former bedroom and another living room. Luigi jumped at every sound and nearly busted his ass slipping on a puddle of blood when a mouse skittered by. He hung his head while his teammates snickered, and picked himself off the floor. After dusting himself off, he raced after the others.

Soon, they reached a hole in the ground leading to a new room. Luigi had a bad feeling about what waited below, but didn't voice it. They were going to jump down whether he liked it or not; he didn't like it one bit.

Bill had already jumped down with Louis and Zoey behind. Before William could join them, the remaining three heard the sound they all dreaded. Luigi cursed.

"Looks like they're going to need some help." William leaped down to join the soon-to-happen fray.

"Let's kick some zombie ass!" Francis said, jumping down and leaving Luigi alone.

_Why must this happen to me?_ He looked around fearfully, expecting Infected to come rushing at him any minute now. He held his gun close to his chest, the hilt jabbing painfully against his ribcage. _This is not super special awesome!  
_  
Luigi briefly wondered if he should just stay up here while the others took care of the zombies below. It sounded like a plan only there were two flaws: 1) He would be a bad teammate and 2) The Infected kept on coming.

As he stood debating what he should do, he could hear the sounds of dying Infected and guns shooting. He brought up a hand to ruffle his wavy hair and grimaced. No way did he want to go down there and face those flesh-eating douchebags, but it seemed he had no other choice.

_It was nice knowing me._

Taking a big gulp, Luigi closed his eyes and leapt down through the hole. The sounds of fighting were louder now and he was confused as to why he had stuck a soft landing. Wasn't the flooring supposed to be hard? Stupefied Luigi looked to see that he had jumped down right on an Infected and somehow killed it. Poor thing. He grew excited at this.

"Hey Willy!" Luigi called. "You can kill them _Super Mario_style!"

"That's great Weegee, but I'm too busy to try it out." William called back.

Still excited over his new discovery, Luigi failed to notice two Infected running towards him. Getting back to reality he readied his gun and shot them down. Pain exploded in his back and he whipped around to see three or five attacking him from behind.

"Cheapshots!" he spat, firing madly at them.

It was like a rainstorm: No matter how many he shot, more seemed to pour in like a torrential downpour. Already he was growing weak and could feel blood oozing from the claw marks they gave him. But as soon as the attack happened, it ended quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief and scurried after the others as they burst through the exit door. He heard a groaning noise and spotted the Boomer heading towards them.

_Not today, mother fucker!_ He narrowed his eyes and aimed his gun at the Special Infected before firing. He heard in satisfaction the boom when said Infected died. _You're not vomiting on anyone today._

"Nice shot!" William called, to which Luigi scratched the back of his head bashfully.

Bill took up the lead again as he led the way through the alleyways with Francis taking up the rear.

"Subway station is just around the corner." Louis informed them when the alleyways opened to the street.

Still wondering why they had to take the subway station, Luigi silently followed his companions as they navigated their way to the safe room. His watchful eyes spotted the Smoker way before it tried to capture Louis with its tongue and he killed it, observing the green smoke floating in the air.

"Pretty good for a kid." Francis commented, surprising him.

As he shot at two female Infected in his way, he could tell that the safe room was near. He turned to follow his fellow Survivors, but stopped dead when he heard a blood-curdling scream. Before he had a chance to flee the Hunter was already on him. He struggled vainly to free himself, but it was useless.

"Help me!" he screamed. Images flashed through his mind of feeling his abdomen being yanked open while blood and guts flew into the air, spilling around him like a grotesque rainfall. He grew thoroughly confused when he felt nothing and looked fearfully up at his attacker.

Though it had him pinned securely beneath it, the Hunter just stared at him. Time seemed to slow and only the two were isolated together. He stared right back, wondering if it just wanted to play a game and if he blinked then it would claw him apart for being the loser. While he studied the Hunter, what looked like grayish-green eyes gazed back at him, but he couldn't really tell because of the dark hood. Flashes of black, oily hair were reflected in the moonlight like muddy puddles.

A shower of bullets pelted past, ending him of his examination. He saw one bullet shell graze the Hunter's shoulder and it yelped in pain, releasing him and bundling away. The brown-haired boy quickly got to his feet and stared after the weird Infected.

How come it felt like he knew who that zombie was?

"You're not going anywhere you sweatshirt wearing wuss." Francis growled, raising his gun at the retreating assailant.

Gasping, Luigi acted on instinct and raced for the biker. "No! Don't shoot it!" he yelled, swiping the gun out of Francis' hand and onto the ground.

Pissed, the biker glared venomously at him as he bent down to retrieve the gun. Luigi didn't notice because he was too busy watching the Hunter disappear into the shadows. William raced to Luigi's side, worry etched into face.

"Little bro, you okay?" he asked, toying with the top sleeve of his shirt.

Luigi didn't reply. _I know those grayish-green eyes and that black hair. Is it possible that...No. He's dead; I saw it with my own eyes._he thought to himself.

_But what of instead of dying, he got turned into one of those things?_

* * *

**Interesting Facts: 1) Luigi and William's last name is Vetterlein.  
**

**2) William is one year older than his brothers.  
**

**3) The brothers are Caucasian/Italian; their father is Italian and their mother is American.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**The reason my Special Infected have humanity in them is because I was thinking: It doesn't state in the game (excluding the Survivors referring to the Infected as zombies) **_**or**_** the Left 4 Dead Wiki that the Common and Special Infected are, in fact, zombies. They are just living humans with a virus so wouldn't it make sense if **_**some**_** of them had hold of their humanity because the virus hadn't completely taken over yet? I wanted to experiment with this, and that's how this story was born. Thought I'd you guys know that.**

**ONTO THE STORY!**

* * *

Chapter 2

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "Aaah… I'm getting too old for this horse shit." ~Bill**

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the rain continued to fall showing no signs of stopping. Atop an abandoned rooftop, sheltering underneath a blue tarp, was a lone Hunter. An irritable growl escaped its lips and it could still hear the distinct sounds of guns being shot, thankfully farther away now. For the first time upon reaching said rooftop did it notice the kicked in door and could smell the faint scent of the Survivors.

_It seems they started out here first._ the Hunter thought to itself. Its grayish-greenish eyes narrowed at the sight of a petty handgun resting on a table next to it. _Stupid Survivors and their stupid guns! When I find the one who hurt me, I'll kill them!_

Turns out the many bullets being shot at it managed to graze its shoulder. The Hunter flexed said body part, wincing at the fiery pain. God damn did it hurt! Where were some antibiotics and a band-aid when you needed one?

The Hunter growled again as an image of the Survivor who helped it escape flashed in its mind. For some reason that brown hair and bright blue eyes were so familiar, but it couldn't figure out why. It was so close to killing the person; all it had to do was bring down its clawed hands. Once it caught sight of those horror-filled blue eyes all it did was just _stare_ at the boy, stupefied beyond words to describe.

_I know that Survivor; I've seen him before, but where?_ The Special Infected snarled in frustration as it tried to remember but failed miserably. _Curse my lack of knowledge!_

It shook its head angrily. There was no point thinking about that Survivor when it was sure they would cross paths again real soon. And it would make sure they did, it still wasn't done studying the boy.

_I'm going to find out why that Survivor looks so familiar. _the Hunter vowed silently.

"Dylan? I knew I'd find you here! Tiney said I wouldn't, but I did. In his face! Yeah!" an excited voice rang out through the rain.

The Hunter, Dylan, looked up in alarm. He relaxed when he found out it was just another Special Infected. A figure formed in the rain; blond hair and blue eye could be seen. He watched as a Smoker, its tongue dangling out of its mouth, joined him underneath the tarp. It coughed before speaking.

"Say... You look like you're in pain. Did you get in a fight with another Hunter? Dylan, I told you to stay away from them!"

Dylan growled. "Relax _mom!_ No, I didn't get in a fight. I just ran into the Survivors is all."

The Smoker titled its head to the side questioningly. "The Survivors? Hey, I saw them too! Those six humans in that one group right? Eesh, I wouldn't want to run into them, they have guns! I saw this one with really bright blue eyes shoot a Smoker like me and I was terrified! What if that was _me?_ Did you know that when a Smoker dies green smoke forms?"

Dylan just grunted in reply.

"Hmm... You know what's funny?"

"What?" Dylan was curious now.

The Smoker locked gazes with him, blue eye serious. "That Survivor, with the bright blue eyes, I feel as though I know him but I'm not sure."

Dylan perked up. So he wasn't the only one the blue-eyed Survivor confused and interested! A thought crossed his mind. If the Smoker was willing then they could both team up and together find out the mystery involving a certain survivor. He grinned at the plan. It was perfect!

"You know, Chris, I bet we can both find out who the Survivor is." Dylan told his fellow Infected cunningly.

The Smoker, Chris, seemed interested. He leaned forward. "And what is that my Hunter buddy?" he asked expectantly.

Dylan put his arm around Chris' shoulder. "Thank my brain for this oh-so _brilliant_ plan. Consider this: We team up, follow the Survivors, and when a Horde comes we use the distraction as a chance to grab the boy and demand he tell us his name."

Chris clapped in approval. "YAY! Smoker and Hunter for the win! But wait..." He frowned. "If we demand the human to tell us his name that would involve talking."

"Yeah, so?"

"Although your idea is good, we can't let them know we still have our humanity." Chris told him.

Dylan frowned at this. What Chris said was true. If the Survivors found out that they still had hold of their humanity while Infected, they could capture them and turn them into scientists for a big reward. There they would be thrown into cages and experimented on as scientists tried to figure out how and why they could talk properly and feel emotion. Apparently to them and everyone else, Infected can only communicate to each other with grunts and growls and considered emotionless.

He shivered at the thought of one of those white coats poking him with a needle. They did that and he would kill each and every one of them slowly and very, very painfully. Then he would point and laugh as they withered on the floor in pain with their life ebbing away with each drop of fallen blood.

Realizing the dark thoughts in his head, Dylan shooed them away. He looked over at Chris who had been waiting for an answer while he was lost in his own thoughts.

"I suppose you're right," Dylan muttered.

Chris raised a brow. "So how do we find out who the Survivor is?" he asked before busting out in a fit of coughs.

Dylan shrugged before wincing as his shoulder stung. He growled in pain. Noticing this, Chris got his coughing under control before inspecting him closely. The Smoker waved an absent-minded hand.

"You look fine, the only thing wrong is that you're bleeding." He paused as he registered what he had just said before freaking. "Oh my god you're bleeding! Help! 911! My friend's gonna die of blood loss!"

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Chris, shut up before the Infected think you're mentally retarded! And don't waste your breath calling 911, the only cop here is a Common and keeps running into that wall! Look!" He pointed at the dead officer.

Chris followed the Hunter's direction. An Infected officer was, indeed, walking into the walls of a building. It would stumble back after the impact, groan, and walk back into it. The Infected repeated the process a few more times before slumping to the ground and staying there.

The Smoker blinked his blue eye. "Wow. After seeing that I suddenly don't feel safe anymore."

**Meanwhile:**

"_Did you hear that?"_ Zombie A said to Zombie B. _"It sounds like talking. Are those the Survivors?"_

"_No,"_ Zombie B shook its head in disappointment. _"It's just that Smoker with the blond hair."_

Zombie A looked quizzically at Zombie B. _"Isn't that the mentally retarded one?"_ it asked.

Zombie B nodded. _"Yep,"_ It paused. _"So I heard Heath Ledger won an Oscar."_

"_Yeah, he really deserved it."_

Zombie B tapped a finger on its chin. _"Hmm... Where are they going to put it?"_

"_Hopefully not in front of his grave where some hobo can take it."_ Zombie A said indignantly.

"_I know right? Sucks that he's dead though."_

"_I heard he died of an accidental overdose."_

"_All celebrities seem to die of that these days."_ Zombie B said matter-of-factly.

**Back to Dylan and Chris:**

An awkward silence filled the air as the Hunter and Smoker listened to the two Commons' conversation. The two gave each other side-long glances before Dylan spoke.

"Oookay, back to the subject at hand." he said. "How are we going–"

"They seriously think I'm mentally retarded?" Chris looked offended. "Come on! The fucking cop kept walking into that building!"

"Focus!" Dylan snarled, snapping his fingers in Chris' face. "Look, I just say we follow them. Do you know where exactly they are going next?"

Chris grinned. "Yupper-duppers! They're heading for the subway. I heard the black one–I think his name is Louis–say it."

"Right then," Dylan straightened. "First we get my shoulder looked at, then we can head for the subway tunnels." He gave Chris a stern look. "Listen to me, big mouth, you tell the others what we're doing and you'll be sure that tongue of yours will be gone."

Chris hugged his tongue protectively. The Hunter said no more as he tensed for a second before leaping off the rooftop and landing on the street below. The Smoker didn't waste any time following his fellow Infected as Dylan took off at a fast trot.

_This... Should be interesting._ he thought.

* * *

**Interesting Facts: 1) Dylan's last name is Vetterlein, just like his brothers.**

**2) Dylan is the youngest twin by two minutes.**

**3) In this story and my novel, Dylan and Luigi are the same height, standing at 5'8". William is 5'6".**

**4) Chris' last name is Macken, and he has German blood in him.**

**5) Chris has an older brother named Luke who appears in Dead Fortress.**

**6) Zombie A and Zombie B provide comic relief.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer…kill a zombie, chug it down, ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Mmmm-mmm-mmmmm-mmninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, kill another zombie…" ~Francis**

The moon was a white orb in the dark sky. A cold shaft of light shone through a broken window of an empty rundown room. The silhouette of a Hunter, sitting on a beaten-up chair, stood out. Emerald green eyes raked over four dark figures seated on the floor.

"From what I hear on the streets is that we have some new playthings." the Hunter announced, smiling big and showing blood-stained teeth. "Six Survivors, altogether in a group, have been seen by the Commons passing by."

The Boomer, easily recognized by its obese figure, grunted in scorn. "And? What's that got to do with us?"

The Hunter fixed the Infected with a cold glare. "Hayden, I would appreciate it if you kept your comments to yourself or I'll give you a reason to comment. Understood?"

Hayden, the Boomer, crossed his arms and grumbled angrily. A Smoker raised its hand. The Hunter sighed.

"Yes Damien?"

"So, uh, what do you have in mind for these 'Survivors?'" It made air-quotes with its fingers.

"A good question Damien, for once." the hooded Infected spoke logically. "A good question indeed."

A Witch growled deep in her throat. "My god Duke, it's not that good of a question! I've heard better from the Commons for crying out loud!" she said hotly.

The Smoker gave her a hard stare. "You're always down on me Twila! Why don't you listen to what I have to say first before you say something?" Damien said, coughing.

Twila, the Witch, rolled her bluish-grayish eyes and yawned in boredom. She inspected her very long claws as she talked. "Because we _all_ know what you have to say is something stupid and doesn't make sense. I'm surprised you're not used to me being down on you by now. Maybe if you weren't such an idiot I would be kind of nice to you."

Before Damien could make a sharp retort, Duke interfered. He growled dangerously at the two, his sharp claws glinting in the faint moonlight.

"Would you two shut up for like two minutes?" he asked impatiently.

"And another thing!" Twila went on, ignoring him completely. "How come you don't get offended whenever Duke talks down on you?" she demanded.

Damien sneered at her. "He's the boss, that's why!" he retorted.

Duke's rumbling laughter could be heard. Twila and Damien looked up at him questioningly. The Hunter smiled slowly as he fixed a green gaze on the Smoker who grew terrified at this and shrank back a little.

"Damien," Duke began slowly and carefully. "How would you like to prove just how loyal you are and go show those Survivors who they are messing with?"

The Smoker's one amber eye brightened. He sat up straight and grinned goofily. "Of course Duke! I won't let you down!" Damien promised loyally.

Duke nodded and glanced over at a certain Boomer. "You can go with him as well Hayden." he said.

"WHAT?" Hayden gawked at the Hunter on the chair and his baby blue eyes widened.

Duke turned his head away, an evil smirk evident on his lips. "Maybe you should have kept your comments to yourself earlier fatass." he growled.

Hayden, offended, leapt to his feet. "FAT–"

"What are you waiting for?" the Hunter cut him off with a furious snarl. "Get going!"

Damien obediently scuttled off while Hayden followed more slowly, muttering curses at Duke silently.

"You'll find them at the subway!" Duke called after them. He turned his head in the direction of the Tank that addressed him.

"Why are you sending those two after the Survivors if we're not sure of their capabilities?" the Tank asked in confusion.

"Ah so you are right Erik," the Hunter murmured before a little chuckle escaped him. "But that's exactly why I sent the two of them after our new targets. They can observe them and inform us of just what we're up against. If they die in the process, oh well." He shrugged as if he couldn't care less.

Twila grinned an evil, toothy grin. "What a sick-minded monster you are Duke." she cackled.

"No wonder you're such a good leader," Erik, the Tank, added.

Duke raised his hands. "Please, don't praise me." he told his comrades. "I just go with what my brain tells me to do."

* * *

"Are you sure they're at the subway?" Dylan called to Chris as he leaped from rooftop-to-rooftop following the Smoker running down on the street.

"I told you earlier that I heard the black guy say it!" Chris called back as he led them to their destination. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Remember last time I believed you? I turn around for one minute to see what you were pointing at and the next thing I know you stole my goddamn wallet!" Dylan called back, anger building in his veins as he reminisced about the incident.

He could see Chris shrugging. "Oh come on! What would you need your wallet for anyway? It's a zombie apocalypse now in case you haven't noticed."

"Just shut up and lead!"

The two finished their quest in silence. Chris skidded to halt at the subway entrance. Dylan jumped down from the rooftop and landed skillfully on hands and feet besides his friend. The blond-haired Smoker glanced down at him.

"Come on, you're best at scenting."

Dylan took in a deep breath. The scent trail left by the Survivors had begun to fade, but he could still distinguish it among the competing scents of dead Infected. He nodded at Chris and began to lead the way down the stairs. A pile of destroyed cars waited at the bottom, but a hole through the wall was big enough for the two Infected to pass through. Dylan mused it was even big enough for humans struggling to get out of a zombie-infested city alive to go through as well. The Hunter followed the scent trail all the way towards a red door.

"The trail ends here at this door," Dylan announced as he stopped and stood from where he had been walking on his hands and feet. "They barricaded the door so none of the Infected can get to them. You'll be able to open it, but it'll take a while. I'm guessing this is some sort of safe room, where they can rest, stock up on ammo, and all that good stuff."

Chris nodded. "It's a good thing we have our humanity then," he mused as he pressed his ear against the door, probably making sure no occupants on the other side that could kill them with the simple pull of a trigger. "We still know how to open doors."

The black-haired Hunter murmured agreement as the Smoker continued to hear for sounds of anything on the other side. After a couple of seconds, he pulled back and gave the signal that there was nobody and that they could proceed.

"Right then, let's do this." Chris said silently and pushed against the door. As his Hunter friend had predicted, it took a good four minutes before the Smoker had the door opened as far as he could get it because of the various furniture the Survivors had used to barricade it with.

Dylan followed him silently into the room. _Just as I suspected,_ he thought to himself as he spotted the table littered with items the Survivors left behind. _This _is _a safe room._

He sniffed the air before glancing at Chris sharply. "They were here not too long ago. That means they're close. Continue on slowly and carefully."

"Actually," Chris began, bringing up a hand and scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "It would be better if you lead. After all, you're nose can tell us which way they went."

The Hunter nodded and dropped down on all fours. He crawled cautiously towards the other door in the safe room, but this one was opened. He poked his head out, eyes and ears alert. When he saw no signs of the Survivors he crept along silently.

"There's a big hole ahead, we'll have to jump down." he whispered over his shoulder as he navigated his way across the trash on the ground.

Once he neared the edge of the hole, he judged the distance from there to the ground before leaping down and landing silently. Chris joined him a short second later. He sniffed the air carefully before sprinting over towards a flight of stairs. The two quickly made their way down and stopped.

"Ooo look, escalators!" Chris pointed out, sounding like some amused five-year-old. "Did they go down them? I wonder if the escalators still work. I loved to ride them whenever I went to the mall before the Infection started." He sighed at the memory.

Dylan clawed at his leg, hearing a pained 'Ow!' in return. "Idiot, now's not the time to be reminiscing about the past! We're on a mission in case you've forgotten. And no the escalators don't work anymore, sorry to ruin your childhood fantasies."

Without letting Chris have a chance to say anything, he was crawling swiftly down the escalators. He could hear the Smoker heave a big sigh before following him. The two came to what seemed like the place where people got their tickets for the train. Dylan paused here to sniff the air carefully, trying to pick up the scent trail of the Survivors. Once he located it, he took off again at a fast trot.

The hooded Infected made for the left side of the room, going up another set of escalators before stopping once more. Chris joined him shortly and looked around carefully. Dylan's now highly-sensitive ears could pick up the sounds of crying and he growled deep in his throat. On top of that, the smell of the Survivors over-powered his senses and he wrinkled his nose slightly.

"What's wrong?" his friend asked nervously, glancing around.

"Witch," Dylan replied through gritted teeth. "Not too far from here. The Survivors are close too. They're not in a rush right now because they don't want to startle her. Since they're near, we have to be even more careful."

Once Chris nodded, he took off again. They made their way quickly past the section where the Witch's crying was loudest. Soon the shooting of guns could be heard and the two finally realized that they had caught up with the Survivors. Dylan winced as he spotted the female in the group shoot a Hunter mid-pounce. Suddenly he heard screeching behind him and Chris. He whipped around just as a group of Infected raced past.

"Fire in the hole!" the female screamed as she threw an item emitting a loud beeping noise.

Awe-struck at the sight of the blinking red light, Dylan stared at it as it landed next to him. The Infected that had zoomed past him came back, surrounding him and beeping thing and for some reason attacking it. He grew confused at the action before Chris' frantic voice rose above the clamor.

"Get out of there Dylan!"

Suddenly realizing that the beeping thing was a trap, he quickly barged his way through the throng of undead. He managed to scramble a good distance away before a loud **BOOM** sounded. Glancing back at the spot he had been, he ducked quickly as the dead corpse of an Infected flew past him. Chris nudged him, grabbing his attention. He looked at his friend who was pointing at the retreating Survivors. They were currently walking into a broken-down train he hadn't noticed was there.

Dylan waited a couple of heartbeats before following them. Chris stayed behind to cough for a moment before trudging after him. They followed the Survivors towards the end of the train and into another section of the subway, this area darker than the rest. Dylan regretted not having a flashlight as the Survivors turned on theirs and started investigating around.

After a few minutes of looking around and the old one healing the female, they took off again. Dylan and Chris followed more slowly and quietly, hoping that they didn't turn around and spot them. The group went up some stairs and turned into a vacant parking garage. Dylan had to clamp his mouth shut to stop himself from growling when he heard the warning growl of a Hunter fill the air. The two Infected sheltered in the shadows as the Survivors moved further into the parking garage.

"What's the plan?" Chris whispered as the two watched the Survivors fighting against the Infected.

"I'm not entirely sure," Dylan replied.

They watched the battle for a minute before Chris spoke up again.

"Why don't we walk up to them and say hello? They'll see that we're harmless and won't kill us."

_That's a stupid idea!_ Dylan growled silently. He swore his friend could be so stupid at the worst possible times! He made a make-shift gun with his fingers and aimed it at Chris whose eyebrows rose questioningly.

"Uh...?" his friend began, but he interrupted.

"Bang." Dylan simply murmured.

The Smoker gazed at him for a long time blinking. "What the hell was that?" he asked, bewildered.

Dylan grunted rudely at him to which he pouted. "Suppose I was a Survivor, you walk up to me and I would shoot you way before you said hello, even if you were trying to be friendly. If I do that what makes you think they won't either?"

But the next thing Chris said wasn't his expected answer.

"Smoker's got our Survivor!" he informed just as their Survivor shouted, 'No!' in horror.

Dylan growled as he spotted the Infected. "Leave it to me." He swiveled his head over to where a fat Infected decided to appear. "Meanwhile you can go take care of that Boomer." He nodded in the direction.

Grinning as he cracked his knuckles Chris responded, "Whatever you say."

* * *

_Got you bitch!_ Damien thought in triumph as his abnormal tongue wrapped securely around his victim's torso.

"No!" the Survivor shouted as he began reeling his victim back.

If it wasn't for the tongue, Damien would have laughed mockingly at the helpless cries. He had planned his attack perfectly. All he did was wait back in the shadows and once the rest of the group were busy handling the Commons he sprang into action. And what a success it was!

He would kill the Survivor, go back and tell of his glory, and become Duke's right-hand man while Erik balled up in a corner mourning.

Damien relished the thought and didn't notice the Hunter until it made its high-pitched scream. Next thing he knew was something heavy barreling into him. The impact literally knocked the breath from him and he released his grip on his victim as he grappled with the Hunter to the floor. The two Infected rolled over and over until the Hunter bunched its legs and kicked him in the stomach, hard.

"_Oof!"_ Damien gasped as he felt himself being flung back. He hit the ground on his back and doubled-over in agony as fiery pain zapped his body. "Ow..."

* * *

_I can't believe Duke is making me do this. _Hayden thought angrily to himself as he waited for the right moment to vomit on the Survivors. _I could care less about these Survivors._

He stopped thinking as he spotted a good opening and prepared to vomit. Just as he was about to release the bile on the unlucky Survivor nearest to him, he felt something wrap around his waist. Confused, he looked down to see a Smoker's tongue wrapped around his torso. He grew angry at this.

"Dammit Damien, did you miss again?" Hayden grumbled to himself.

Next thing he knew was that he lost balance and tumbled to the floor as the Smoker began pulling him backwards. Hayden struggled vainly against the hold, wondering what the hell Damien was on. Once the pulling ceased he glanced up to see a Smoker, not Damien, grinning evilly down at him before a fist came down.

_SMACK! WHAM! BAM! POW! KICK!_

Hayden was sent skyward after his beating and fell on something lying on the floor as he landed.

"Get off me fatty!" Damien complained loudly, voice whining.

"Oh you'll be fine." commented Hayden.

He could hear Damien cursing beneath him. "Try having a five hundred pound Boomer land on you and tell me if that's fine!" the Smoker spat back.

* * *

"That was fun!" Chris announced quietly, snickering, as he walked back to Dylan.

There was a big frown on his face. "That Smoker I fought, I recognized him." Dylan muttered. "It was Damien, the Smoker from Duke's group."

Chris tilted his head to the side. "What is Damien doing here?" He then paused. "Then that Boomer was Hayden, right?"

Dylan nodded at the possibility and was about to follow the Survivors out the parking garage when they suddenly fled back in. Chris tilted his head to the side in confusion as Dylan stared.

"What are they–"

"TANK!" Dylan and the female screeched at the same time.

The Special Infected roared angrily, pried up a thing of rubble from the ground, and tossed it towards the black Survivor who wisely moved out the way.

"Out the way, out the way, OUT THE WAY!" Dylan shrieked.

Alarmed, Chris turned his head as a rock hurtled towards him. "HOLY BEJEEZUS!" he gasped, dodging out the way. He looked at the Tank through wide eyes. "Shit!"

Dylan watched the fight through narrowed eyes. There was no way he and Chris could help the Survivors without getting themselves killed in the process.

The Tank charged for the female who had opening fire first. The others spread out among the parking garage, shooting at the Special Infected. When the female luckily got away, it switched targets to the tattooed one. The biker managed to put up a good fight before falling to the ground after receiving a good one from the Tank's powerful arms. Even down and helpless the Tank continued to throttle the biker. Well, it _was_ until a certain Survivor sprang to his comrade's help.

"Hey you ugly mother fucker!" Dylan and Chris' Survivor yelled. "Pick on somebody your own size!"

Feeling his grayish-greenish eyes grow wide, the Hunter watched the next scene in terror. The bright-eyed Survivor raced straight for the Tank, ignoring his teammates' shouts of stop. The boy smacked the butt of his gun right across its face. It roared furiously and attempted to swing at its blue-eyed attacker, but the Survivor was already leaping backwards.

The Tank gave chase as the boy turned tail and fled while shooting over his shoulder. The old man quickly raced to the biker's side and started helping him up while the female, the black one, and a dark blue-eyed boy fired at the Tank in hopes of killing it before it could hurt their bright-eyed companion. Just as the Tank had enough and was about to die, it took one last swing and managed to land a hit on its assailant.

The blue-eyed boy screamed as he crashed to the floor. The Survivor, probably in agonizing pain, curled up into a tight ball and was motionless.

Horror gripped Dylan's heart as he wondered if the Survivor was dead. God he hoped not. He dared a glance at Chris. His friend's blue eye was wide and his mouth hung open as he had been watching. After getting the biker to his feet, the group raced toward the motionless boy.

"Oh, man! Is he dead?" the black one asked nervously.

"Come on kid!" the biker said as he tried nudging the boy. "You can't die on us now!"

"Wait a minute," the old one spoke. The biker sat back as his teammate picked up one of the blue-eyed boy's wrist and pressed a finger against it. "He's still alive, I can feel a pulse."

"Luigi!" the dark blue-eyed boy yelled frantically, crouching over the boy. "Luigi, are you okay? Answer me dammit!" He nudged him softly.

_Luigi._ The name echoed in Dylan's mind. It was like he heard the name before because it sounded so familiar and he concentrated on remembering. As he concentrated, a picture flashed in his mind. It was of him, before he was Infected, grimacing as a bright blue-eyed boy ruffled his black hair with a big smile on his face. And suddenly he remembered just who exactly this 'Luigi' was.

Shocked beyond words to describe, Dylan's eyes bulged and a choking sound came from him. He stumbled backwards, away from Chris and the Survivors. His friend looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" the Smoker interrogated.

_N-no! Lu-Luigi, it _is _you? Wha-what are you doing here? I thought you left the city with the others! Wh-why didn't you...that Survivor with dark blue eyes…William? No! No! This is a dream! A very bad dream! I'm going to wake up any second now._

But Dylan knew this wasn't a dream and that he wasn't sleeping. Those two Survivors were full well his brothers. The oldest one was the dark blue-eyed one and his identical twin was the bright blue-eyed one. Faced with the realization that his two brothers were killing Infected like him he couldn't–he _wouldn't_–approach them. Not now. Not ever.

As Chris stepped towards him, he turned and fled. The darkness swallowed him up and Chris never did know where his Hunter friend ran off to.

* * *

**Interesting Facts: 1) Duke's last name is Miller.**

**2) Damien's last name is Villalobos, and he is Hispanic (Mexico).**

**3) Twila's last name is Robinson, and she has Cajun blood in her.**

**4) The Boomer, Hayden, shares the same name as one of Luigi's best friends, Hayden Peterson, in my novel.**

**5) While creating the Tank for the bad Special Infected team, I was stuck on what his name should be so I ended up using my cousin's best friend's name.**

**6) In my novel, Damien and Duke live together and they become bartenders when they're older.**

**7) Despite being depicted as the main villain, Duke is actually a good guy, although he **_**is**_** somewhat of a jerk.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Shout out to Citrina and Sonosublime for favoring this story! If you guys are reading this, thank you very much! You're awesome! :D**

**Also, I wanna send a shout out to the people from all over the world who read this story as well. Going on the story stats and seeing people from Spain, Italy, and the UK to name a few brings a big smile to my face! *bro fists you all*  
**

**Also, I uploaded chaps. 4&5 so pick which one you'd like to read~!  
**

* * *

Chapter 4

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "Great… That makes me the last woman on Earth." ~Zoey**

_Ah, God, my back hurts._

"Luigi."

_Why does it hurt so much?_

"Luigi."

_Oh, right. Now I remember. I did _not_ think that one through._

"Luigi!"

Giving in to the voice repeatedly saying his name, Luigi slowly opened his eyes. The light was blinding and his eyes squinted in pain. A horrible groaning noise came from him and Luigi was surprised it was his voice.

"Luigi, you're alive!" a breathed voice, full of relief, sounded next to him.

Groggily he twisted his head to see a set of dark blue eyes. He quickly recognized his older brother William crouching over him with a worried expression on his face.

"Of course I am," Luigi said weakly. "My back just hurts like hell."

Speaking of his back, he hoped it wasn't broken. But then again it probably was considering how he couldn't move an inch without unbearable pain zapping his body like getting stung by a million angry bees all at once.

"I'm not surprised," a gruff voice sounded to his left. He looked in the direction and saw Francis. "That wasn't very smart of you, kid, but you did save my life. So thanks."

The bright-eyed teen just nodded in reply.

"Hold still," Zoey said as she took out her first-aid kit and began patching him up.

He obeyed and lay as still as stone until she was done. William helped Luigi to his feet as he tried standing up. In the end he had to rely on wrapping an arm over his big brother's shoulder for support. Coughing could be heard, echoing throughout the parking garage.

"I hear a Smoker!" Louis stated the obvious.

Luigi instinctively shined his flashlight around trying to find the Special Infected. He then managed to spit it. It was vainly trying to get its coughing under control. Zoey held up her gun in an attempt to shoot it, but it noticed way before she got to pull the trigger. Blue eye getting wide, it coughed once before quickly making its escape. A silence fell over the group of six.

"Well that was weird." William commented, breaking it.

Zoey lowered her gun and looked questioningly at the others. "Was it me or did that Smoker have a blue eye?"

"And blond hair?" added Francis.

"Doesn't matter; it's time we were going," Bill spoke, reloading his gun and getting back on track. He turned to William. "Help Luigi since he's in bad shape right now. I think it's best if you two stay behind us, that way there's a less chance of the Infected hurting you."

William and Luigi nodded. The veteran started off, heading for the stairs from earlier. The others quickly walked after him with the two brothers following more slowly for Luigi's sake. Sounds of shooting guns filled the boys' ears as they managed to make it up the stairs and into a room full of big generators. Luigi grimaced as he took in sight of his surroundings.

"I don't like this room one bit." he grumbled to himself.

William heard him. "Me neither." his brother agreed.

After clearing through some Infected, the group made their way into a locker room. Zoey shot down the zombie that occupied it before they made use of the helpful contents scattered throughout. William opened a medicine cabinet on the wall and grabbed some pain pills. He split the bottle in half, giving some pills to his hurt little brother and taking the rest for himself.

"You two stay in here," Bill instructed them. "I'll guard from the door. We're going to have to turn these things on and as you know the loud noise is going to attract a Horde."

The siblings nodded and William led Luigi over to one corner of the locker room, gun ready in hand. Luigi had his own gun ready as well. He may be in excruciating pain but that still wasn't an excuse to shoot a couple of heads off. The two waited tensely as Bill began taking gas cans and placing them in good places to catch some of the Horde on fire. They saw him place one near the locker room entrance and guessed it was to protect them from the soon-to-happen brawl. Once that was done the veteran triggered the button, turning on the generators. Fear crashed over Luigi as he heard the angry shrieks of the Horde and tried his best to swallow it down. Bill had positioned himself in front of the entrance like he said he would and from where the two brothers could see, Zoey was standing on one of the generators while Louis and Francis waited on the ground.

It didn't take long for Infected to show up. Luigi and William waited in their corner as guns shot madly, cries of dying Infected could be heard, and heat from the fire after Bill shot the gas cans. A few undead managed to pass through Bill's defense and raced for them, but they were no match for the siblings' guns. The two felt like laughing as Infected, some even on fire, raced in and charged for them but were gunned down.

The fray surprisingly didn't last very long. The group of six left behind the generators and headed up more stairs where Luigi complained quietly under his breath. For each step he took going up, his back would protest by electrocuting him with pain. He breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to the top and followed Bill headed towards a door.

"There's ammo in this room," Bill called back to him.

Suddenly the sound of a Smoker could be heard and Bill's horrified, 'No!' Louis rushed ahead with Francis and Zoey behind him. As the two brothers caught up, the room was filled by the sickly green cloud Smokers made after they died causing the Survivors to cough from the fumes. They quickly grabbed more ammo and left.

"To anyone who can hear this, proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation!" The sounds of the helicopter from before could be heard. "Repeat: Proceed to Mercy Hospital for evacuation!"

Luigi glanced out the window of a room they passed in time to glimpse part of the helicopter fly by. He ground his teeth together angrily. _Why don't you just pick us up here, asshole?_

They Survivors steadily made their way back out into the streets with Bill gunning down a Boomer along the way. He gave a surprised gasp when a Hunter pounced him out of nowhere. Francis pushed it off while Zoey lodged a bullet into its head, killing it instantly. Bill was helped to his feet and he flashed a grateful nod toward his fellow teammates. While they traveled down the street towards a pawn shop where the safe room was in, Luigi and William kept a lookout behind the group in case a Horde decided to pop up. Luigi realized with a rush of happiness that the searchlights in the distance were getting closer.

_We're nearly there!_

Before long they reached the safe room; Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey bundled in first. Just as he was about to go in behind William, Luigi got the feeling that something was watching him and peered over his shoulder.

A silhouette of a hooded figure leaning against an alarmed car could be seen (Luigi briefly wondered why the car wasn't going off). Grayish-greenish eyes were narrowed as the Hunter stared at him. Luigi blinked and stared back. As Survivor and Infected met gazes, the Hunter stared at him for a bit longer before leaping over the car and disappearing. Still blinking, Luigi headed into the safe house and slammed the red door behind him. William walked over to help him down onto a couch.

"Oh my God…we made that!" Zoey's breathless exclamation was heard. "Can you believe it?"

* * *

The Infected squirmed helplessly beneath him, vainly trying to break free. He almost laughed at it; no matter how much it struggled it wasn't going anywhere any time soon. So instead he proceeded to slash open its throat, killing it. He got up from where he had pinned the useless Common to the ground, taking out all his rage on it. Blood stained his hand and he licked it off. The red liquid had a bitter, uninviting smell to it so he spat it out of his mouth. He snarled.

"Taking out your anger on the Commons? That's something I wouldn't expect from you."

Whipping around, muscles tensed to pounce, he narrowed his eyes to slits. A Witch was walking toward him, her black hair flowing out behind her.

"Twila," Dylan sneered. "Aren't you supposed to be with Duke?"

She rolled her bluish-grayish eyes. "Our _leader_ is too busy bitching at our oh-so reliable Smoker and Boomer." The Witch shrugged. "Can't say I really care, Damien is an idiot."

Dylan huffed. "I ran into him in the subway," he mumbled. "I gave him a little something to remember me by. I would be lying, though, if I said that I wasn't disappointed he didn't put up much of a fight."

"Don't act so cocky now," Twila retorted, her voice teasing.

The Hunter just shrugged and didn't reply. He felt one of her long claws run through his hair; he hadn't realized he had taken his hood off.

"So what pissed you off, or are you attacking the Commons just to do it? What a shame. They are good at helping us with the Survivors."

Dylan stiffened. "How do you know about them?"

"Word on the street is that a group of six immune humans have been running around here." The Witch announced slowly, as if she were making sure he took in every single one of her words. "They're heading for Mercy Hospital."

He tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Why there?"

She blinked. "You haven't heard the pilot of a helicopter telling them to head there for evacuation?"

He shook his head and frowned, wondering bleakly if the Survivors were going to make it at all. To him Mercy Hospital was one of the major hot-spots for Infected. Considering how big the building was, there was no telling how many hiding spots there were for the undead to reside in.

Twila began chuckling, disrupting him from his thoughts. He turned his attention to her questioningly.

"Of course Duke will make sure they won't ever get to leave," she informed him. "Why do you think he sent Damien and Hayden to the subway? He just wanted to see what they were capable of. Yeah, he's upset that they didn't manage to kill any of the Survivors. The less competition there is you know? Well, anyways, now that he knows what they can do, he'll be thinking up plans to get rid of them. And you know as well as I do how good of plans Duke makes."

Growling dangerously, Dylan swiped a hand at her. She retreated a step or two growling as well.

"You honestly don't expect to fight me, do you Dylan?" Twila hissed, inspecting her long claws closely. "I could tear you apart with just one swipe of my claws."

Dylan's eyes narrowed once more. She was right; those claws would rip him to shreds. "Duke has no business messing with them!" he snarled, baring his teeth at her. "What did they do to him?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, but you know how Duke is. Just because he has humanity isn't an excuse to not behave like those screaming hooded freaks. Hell, he almost has the blood-red teeth!"

He wrinkled his noise in disgust. "That's disgusting!"

"We aren't supposed to be perfect!" Twila snapped.

Dylan had to control every muscle in his body so that he wouldn't pounce on the Witch and claw the shit out of her. Who the hell did she think she was talking to him like that?

"How do you go from making fun of your leader to defending him?" he demanded angrily.

The black-haired Witch smiled. To Dylan it seemed more wicked than sweet. She placed a hand on her hip and gave him a serious look.

"Do you honestly think I accept Duke as my leader?" she questioned. "Please. I prefer to be alone. I only joined their group to have some fun. They are so boring though, it sucks."

Dylan snorted but didn't say anything. He was still getting over the shock and rage after he discovered that his two brothers were not only still alive, but killing Infected like him. A snarl threatened to escape his lips but he swallowed it back down. His stupid brothers! They should have left the city as soon as the Infection started.

He heard Twila walk back over and could feel her slender claws running back through his hair. He didn't know why she was doing that, but he didn't ask her. Her claws felt soothing and comfortable so he wasn't complaining. He tried concentrating on the feeling and not on the thoughts of his brothers. It failed.

Dylan sighed in defeat. "I still can't believe they're alive…" he spoke his thoughts aloud.

"Who?" Twila asked curiously.

He paused for a minute. _Can I trust her to keep quiet?_

In the end, however, he decided to tell her.

"My brothers."

The Witch's claws gripped his hair rather roughly and he winced.

"Your…_brothers_?"

He nodded. "Yeah. William and Luigi. They are two of the six Survivors heading for Mercy Hospital."

"Is that why you got so mad after I told you how Duke is going to kill them?" Twila asked.

He glanced over at her quizzically. "Wouldn't you have been mad hearing that?"

"It depends." She stopped messing with his hair and plopped down next to him. "If you haven't noticed, I'm kinda of an emotionless bitch. It's better than crying constantly like other Witches do. Anyways, I wouldn't have cared if Duke killed them. But in this case maybe I _do_ care…just a little bit." Twila gave him a look. "Dylan, would you be sad if they died?"

"Of course I would!" Dylan exclaimed at her. "They're my brothers!"

Twila looked as if she wanted to say something, but suddenly stiffened in alarm. She glanced over her shoulder and her bluish-grayish eyes narrowed.

"Someone's coming, I better get going." She looked back at him and, using one of her claws, placed one under his chin and tilted his head up. "I won't tell Duke about our conversation. You can trust me I hope you know that."

And with that she kissed him gently on the lips before getting to her feet. The Witch gave him one last look before melting into the shadows like a ghost. Dylan, shocked about the kiss, raised a hand to touch his lips.

_I was _not_ expecting that,_ he thought.

"Weird," he murmured to himself.

He then remembered what Twila had said and sniffed the air. The scent of a Survivor crashed over him and he jumped to his feet. Locating the scent, he crouched down and scanned the area in front of him. It wasn't long before a stumbling shape could be seen.

_Aw, are you lost you stupid Survivor? _Dylan grinned evilly and flexed his claws. _This is going to be fun._

When the Survivor stopped to glance around as if they were lost, he took the chance to take a massive leap at his victim. The Survivor heard his scream and quickly dodged so instead of landing on him he landed on the ground. Growling angrily, he whipped around to glare at his victim.

"I was looking for you," the Survivor spoke, taking a step forward into a shaft of moonlight.

Dylan recoiled when he recognized his and Chris' Survivor they had been spying on. He stood up from his crouch, but was still tense in case the Survivor tried to pull anything.

"Do you know who I am?" his former victim demanded, bright blue eyes blazing cold fire.

He didn't answer directly and it must have frustrated the Survivor because a pistol quickly materialized in their hand. A single gunshot filled the air followed by a pained yelp. Dylan gripped his now injured shoulder, blood already oozing out from the wound. He glared and snarled at his attacker. The Survivor just stared at him, eyes devoid of all emotion. The next thing Dylan knew was his face being slammed into the ground as a foot planted itself painfully against the back of his skull.

"Why the hell have you been following me?" the angry Survivor demanded. "It's really starting to piss me off. What the fuck do you want with me? Why haven't you tried to kill me already?"

Dylan didn't answer. He couldn't answer. He didn't know what this Survivor would do if the human found out he had hold on his humanity. Would the Survivor capture him and give him to scientists to be tortured and experimented on?

Impatient at him, he yelped in agony again as his tormenter slammed the foot harder against his head.

"Answer me!" the Survivor snarled mercilessly.

"Because you reminded me of somebody that's why!" he growled finally.

He could feel the Survivor take the foot off the back of his head. As he was about to get to his feet, Dylan felt a pair of hands grip the front of his black hoodie and yank him forward until their noses were barely touching. Grayish-greenish met bright blue and Dylan had never seen his twin this angry before. Luigi usually walked around with a goofy smile on his face while he happily waved and said hello to passing people. Now there was a mean look planted on his twin's face, his eyes blazed blue fire, and a frown on his lips.

"You can talk?" Luigi asked slowly. "How is that possible?"

Dylan glared at him and was tempted to spit on his face but decided not to. "I don't recall me talking being any of your business." he snarled.

Luigi narrowed his eyes. "Tell me you hooded _freak_," he began. "Who was this person I reminded you of?"

For a moment he was confused as to why his twin couldn't tell that it was him, but he guessed his dark hood made that impossible.

"The person you reminded me of," Dylan lifted his face to meet Luigi's glare directly, "is named Luigi. He's my twin brother."

His twin's mouth gaped open a little before he closed them. "D-Dylan…?" Luigi stammered.

"Yes?" he said coolly.

"You're alive? How…But…you're supposed to be dead!" Tears had sprung up in Luigi's eyes but he wiped them away.

"I'm walking and talking aren't I?" Dylan snapped. "And no, I didn't die. I turned into a Hunter."

Luigi let go of his hoodie and backed away from him. "If you're a Hunter then how come you don't act like one?" he asked. He then glanced at Dylan's shoulder where blood was slowly dripping down it. "Oh god…I'm so–"

"Because the virus hasn't taken a hold of my body just yet. As a result, I have humanity." Dylan explained, cutting him off. "And please, don't say that I don't act like a Hunter. You can't stand there and not tell me that earlier I wasn't showing the characteristics of one."

"Y-yeah…I guess you're right." Luigi stared at him for a little bit before talking hesitantly. "How you've been?"

"Good." Dylan answered in annoyance. Just because he was an Infected didn't mean his own twin couldn't talk to him like a normal person! He grew angry. "Why the fuck did you leave the safe room? Are you fucking stupid? Don't you know Survivors by themselves won't last five minutes?"

Luigi grunted. "Well I see being a Hunter doesn't change that potty mouth of yours!" He grinned goofily down at him. "And I couldn't sleep. Francis kept snoring like nobody's business! Oh, and William kept kicking me on my back. It still hurts from when that stupid Tank hit me!"

Dylan winced as the image of the Tank hitting his twin square on the back flashed in his mind. "I saw that. You were pretty stupid." he commented.

"I couldn't just stand there and let Francis die now could I?"

"I guess you're right," Dylan muttered. He then gazed at his brother in confusion. "Why are you all sleeping? Don't you have to go to Mercy Hospital?"

Luigi seemed surprised. "How do you know about that?"

"A little birdie told me." Dylan answered coolly.

"I'm pretty sure the helicopter isn't leaving any time soon. Why not take a little nap and refresh yourself?" His twin shrugged then looked at him questioningly. "So since you have humanity, you're just as human as the rest of us?"

Dylan nodded. "I can still feel emotions, can talk…all that good stuff. As for the Commons," he chuckled hoarsely. "All they have is animal-like characteristics." He then gave his brother a serious look. "Understand this Weegee. Every day that passes, I slowly succumb to the virus in my body. That little display earlier is a sign of just how I'm losing my hold in humanity. One day you can be talking to your brother Dylan, the next you will be screaming and yelling for help as Hunter Dylan rips you to pieces."

The brown-haired boy was quiet for a minute before he spoke. "Well…I…uh–" Luigi got interrupted by Dylan.

"And that is why I want you to kill me."

The Hunter watched with cold eyes as the Survivor choked and stared at him through widened eyes.

"What?" Luigi asked him. "Are you crazy? N-no! I can't–I _won't_–do that!" he stammered.

Dylan growled angrily. "Why the hell not? Just because I'm your twin? Face reality Luigi, the sooner you kill me the better."

"That's not the reason!" Luigi insisted quickly. "I want to _help_ you! I-I can do it! Just come with me back to the others. I'll explain everything to them and then when we get rescued at the hospital we can give you to a doctor…or a scientist…someone that can find a cure and turn you back into a human again! I'm sure that can work. I mean, after all, you kept your humanity even though you're an Infected!"

"Doctor or scientist?" Dylan wrinkled his nose in disgust. "No way. All they'll do is throw me in some cage and experiment on me." He narrowed his eyes at Luigi. "You idiot! Are you actually _willing_ to let me live?" He gave a dark chuckle. "If that's the case then you're a fool. Just imagine it, hearing that girl's cry for help as I tear mercilessly into her flesh. Or how about watching as the old man's life slowly gives way from each drop of precious blood? What about the black one, hmm? He would already be dead. Oh, and you can't forget the biker. I can picture him now, lying there on the ground trying vainly to shoo away the black tunnel he sees but to no avail. And William, oh big brother _William_." He said his big brother's name with a nasty sneer on his face. "Hell I wouldn't mind getting my claws on him. In fact...why don't I just do it right now?"

As he turned to leave, a smirk placed itself firmly on his lips at the sound of clicking gun. He slowly peeked a glance over his shoulder to see Luigi aiming his pistol at him again.

"You wouldn't." his twin murmured.

The Hunter sneered. "Try me."

From what he could see Luigi was trying hard to control the fury that washed over him. The brown-haired Survivor, though the pistol was aimed perfectly at the back of his skull, was resisting the urge to pull trigger. The action sent the Infected into a fit of snickers.

"What's so funny?" Luigi demanded angrily. "I'll kill you! Don't think I won't."

"Then do it!" Dylan yelled furiously to which the Survivor flinched. "Well? What the hell are you waiting for? Pull the damn trigger already!"

Luigi stared at him for a very long time without speaking. And then slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered the gun.

"No. I won't do it."

* * *

**Interesting Fact: In my novel, Twila does in fact have a crush on Dylan who pays her little to no attention.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "Grabbin' pills." ~Louis**

From atop a rooftop two figures could be seen. They seemed to be watching something down below. One donned a sweatshirt where the hood was pulled down so to not only cover some of its face, but its eyes as well to where one could only see its nose and mouth. The other was tall with a deformed face, emitting a thick green smoke, and would make obnoxious gagging noises from its mouth which housed its long tongue. The two watched as one of the six immune humans, a chocolate brown-haired teenager with a few curls located here and there, walked past a crouched Hunter and disappear down an alleyway. The crouching Hunter stood up slowly and looked past its shoulder down the alleyway the Survivor had vanished in.

"Well I'll be damned!" the Smoker coughed. "That Survivor let that Hunter go without so much as a bullet to the head!"

His hooded companion didn't answer. Its green eyes were still locked on the Hunter down on the street. The Smoker, not liking the silence that hung over them, decided to talk again.

"I wonder if it talked the Survivor out of shooting it."

"Idiot!" the hooded creature snarled furiously to which the Smoker flinched. "You, me, Hayden, Erik, Twila, and Dylan's group are the only Infected in Fairfield that can talk! The others just communicate with petty grunts and growls."

The Smoker raised its hands in a 'cool-off' gesture. "Calm down before you have a stroke."

"And that's not just any Hunter," his hooded companion continued in a low growl. "That's Dylan! How come you didn't notice his gray-green eyes?"

"Because that stupid hood he wears blocks out his eyes!" the Smoker replied. "And I only have one eye. Besides even if I _did_ have two my eyesight wouldn't be as good as yours."

The hooded creature snorted. "Your eyesight is good enough if you can capture Survivors with that disgusting tongue of yours."

The Smoker pouted. "My tongue may be disgusting but at least it's a deadly weapon." It grinned evilly and a dark chuckle could be heard. "I remember that Survivor. I caught him with my tongue when you sent Hayden and I down into the subways. I would've had him if some stupid Hunter hadn't pounced me!"

"That Hunter was Dylan." the Hunter informed him. "I saw that blond-haired Smoker of theirs leave the subway and figured if he was down there then Dylan would have been too."

"You mean Chris?"

The Hunter nodded and looked down at Dylan again. He was still standing on the street and pulled his hood off his head. His black hair glimmered in the moonlight and started making his way slowly down the street toward home. A light rain had begun to fall.

"Crap!" the Smoker cursed, grumbling as raindrops splashed on him. "I hate rain!"

"Say Damien," Duke spoke slowly, still watching Dylan. "Could you go back and get Erik for me?"

Damien glanced at him from the corner of his amber eyes. "Why?"

Duke grinned. "I want to take a try on the Survivors."

* * *

Luigi grumbled incoherently as something repeatedly kept poking him on the cheek. He twisted on his bed, lying on his stomach with his head buried in the couch. A hard tug on his brown hair made him wake up, barely.

_"…Mmm...Mudkips..." _he drooled.

William's left eye twitched. "Now is not the time for _Pokémon_ references!" he snapped. "We're in a zombie apocalypse for Christ's sake and all you can think about is _Pokémon_?"

Louis placed a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down."

William snorted but didn't reply and looked away crossly. Luigi finally sat up and gave a big stretch. He threw his legs over the edge of the couch and got up. Zoey was strapping on a first-aid kit while Louis just got done healing himself. Francis was reading graffiti while Bill reloaded his assault rifle and pistols. William made a grab for the last med kit; Luigi still had his from the last safe room.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Bill questioned.

They nodded and he removed the bar holding the door closed and carefully stepped out into an alleyway. The gang headed through a door on their right.

"Whoa! Would you look at all these boxes?" Luigi whispered to William. He looked around. "Does anyone know where a crowbar is? I wanna see what's inside!"

"Focus!" his brother commanded, shooting at a male Infected.

"My bad…" he murmured and smacked away an Infected rushing at him with the hilt of his gun before killing it.

While Bill led the group outside, Luigi stayed behind to explore a little bit more. He grinned excitedly when he spotted a bottle of pain pills wedged in between two boxes and plucked it free. Just as he was about to rejoin his companions, a slimy tongue wrapped around his waist and pulled him back. The teen lost his balance and was dragged across the ground by the Smoker.

"Help!" he yelped loudly.

The sound of approaching footsteps filled Luigi's ears and a barrage of bullets zipped past him. A few seconds later the reeling ceased and he glanced over to see his attacker, its chest decorated with bullet holes, topple to the floor dead as a doorknob. He smiled at Louis who had saved him and gratefully let the business man help him up.

"Thank you, Louie!" Luigi exclaimed and gave Louis a smile.

The latter responded by ruffling his hair affectionately. The two were unaware of the Boomer bearing down on them until Francis suddenly barged past with a warning of, "Heads up!" While Luigi and Louis dodged out the way of the Boomer's stream of puke headed their direction, Francis pushed the Special Infected away roughly. It stumbled a few paces back before blood, puke, and guts flew in every which way when Francis shot it in its abdomen. Luigi and Louis walked over to the biker while complimenting him on his kill.

"Boys?" They turned around to see Zoey peering into the building worriedly. "Is everything alright?"

Francis jogged over to her. "Yeah. Louis saved Luigi from a Smoker and I killed a Boomer." he explained.

Luigi walked past them into a garage where Bill and William were. He spotted a pipe bomb underneath a table, getting down on his knees to retrieve it. As he was getting back up, he hit his head on the table.

"OW!" he growled, rubbing his now throbbing head.

The action made the rest snicker except for Francis. He just grunted in scorn.

"Get your head in the game son!" Bill called down to him.

Luigi muttered a quick apology for his clumsiness and raced after the veteran. They were about to turn into another alleyway when the sounds of Infected reached their ears. They whipped around the zombies rushing out of the building they were just in. A thrown molotov exploded into flames in front of the Horde, catching the Infected on fire. Bill took this as a chance to lead them off again. They headed into a door that led them into a kitchen. The floor of the new building had white tiles with red ones here and there and the walls matched the floor only the red ones seemed to crisscross each other. Louis' thoughtful mumbling could be heard. After a while, they realized they were in a restaurant. The costumers? Infected of course!

"Oh my God," William breathed when they walked out the restaurant. "We were in a Burger Tank!"

"If only it was open," Francis said longingly.

"Hey, uh…" Luigi's questioning voice made the two turn to him. "Are we in a rest stop for eighteen wheelers?" He pointed at the said vehicles.

Louis hmm'ed. "I suppose so."

They took off again only to slow their steps when crying was heard.

"I hear the crying girl," William whispered to them.

To the left of a gas station named Pump 'N Run was a lift that would allow the Survivors to reach the rooftop of the Hersch Shipping Company warehouse. The Witch was directly in front of the lift.

"Of fucking course," Francis sighed.

Luigi blinked. "Did she know we were coming through this way, or was it just coincidence?" he asked.

William waved the question off. "Guys, I've got an idea. Why don't we all shoot her at once? There'll be no way she'll survive that!"

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Louis said with a nod of agreement.

Silently, the Survivors reloaded their weapons before pointing them at the Witch. Bill counted down slowly and when he reached three, the pulled the trigger. An enraged screech filled the air as the bullets burrowed into the Witch's skin. She charged toward them despite the barrage of bullets, but she ultimately succumbed to her wounds. A silence fell over the Survivors before William broke it.

"That was fucking _sweet,_ man!" he exclaimed with a fist-pump.

With the Witch threat out of the way, the Survivors wasted no time in climbing onto the lift. Bill then started it and it noisily began moving them upwards. As expected, the cry of a Horde rose into the air. Luigi fished out his pipe bomb when the first few Infected showed up.

"Bomb's away!"

He threw it, watching in amusement at the stupid Infected that raced after the beeping object. His amusement was cut short when he felt claws rip away at him. He turned around and shot down the Infected climbing up a ladder on the side of the left he hadn't known was there, and followed William and Zoey up onto the roof. Louis, Bill, and Francis remained on the lift to take out the Horde from there.

"Help!" Bill yelled and Luigi turned to see the former war veteran fall to the ground with a few Infected descending upon him. He raced over to help, but skidded to a halt when he saw a tongue. A Smoker grabbed Louis, who gave a cry of surprise, and dragged him off the lift.

"This Horde is too big!" William's terrified scream sounded. He and Zoey were firing at the Infected that managed to climb onto the roof. William then fell back to help Louis and, seeing as how Francis was helping Bill up to his feet, Luigi rushed over to take his place by Zoey's side. He accidently tripped over the corpse of an Infected causing him to topple off the roof. He hit the ground on his back and held back a scream of agony as pain raked his body. _Dammit! Just when my back was getting better!_

He blinked gratefully up at Zoey when she jumped down from the roof to help him up.

"Quick! Get back up onto the lift!" Francis yelled commandingly.

None of them needed telling twice and raced for it, but soon stopped in their tracks when in the distance they could see more Infected appear on the scene.

"What the fuck?" William exclaimed angrily. "_Another_ Horde?"

"We'll have to take them out the old fashioned way!" Bill hollered. "Everyone, group together!"

"Protect Bill!" Luigi ordered as he took his position. "We can't heal him right now, but at least we can make sure he doesn't go down again!"

Everyone else nodded and reloaded their guns.

* * *

"Oh my God, I'm so bored!"

Dylan shook his head in exasperation as Chris began complaining. He stared at the blond-haired Smoker from the corner of his eyes.

"Look at my tongue!" Chris exclaimed, pointing at his abnormally long tongue. "It's disgusting! Why does it have to hang out like that?"

"Because you're a Smoker." Dylan explained in boredom.

His friend grunted before coughing. "I hate this coughing and what the hell is this stuff around me anyways?"

"Chris, the reason you're questioning yourself after you've been a Smoker for, I dunno, a long time now is beyond me." Dylan muttered.

Before Chris could make a sharp retort, a new noise caught their attention. Chris' eye widened while Dylan's narrowed. The noise was the shooting of guns and the angry yells of Infected, a lot by the sound of it. Curious, Dylan cautiously crept over to the edge of the rooftop the two were hanging out on. Chris, after a few moments of hesitation, followed.

"Those Survivors can move!" He sounded impressed. "Last I saw them they were still in that parking garage trying to shoot me."

But Dylan didn't reply. He was too busy watching Bill, Louis, Francis, Zoey, and his two brothers holding out against the biggest Horde he's ever seen.

"Man, I hope they can hold off against that many Infected." Chris murmured worriedly.

The Hunter and Smoker watched the scene below them. Luigi and William had gone back-to-back, watching out for each other as well as shooting the onslaught of Infected. Louis seemed to be handling things well, so were Bill, Francis, and Zoey, but Dylan noticed that Francis and Zoey were covering Bill and guessed the old man had been badly hurt. As they watched, Zoey threw a pipe bomb with a yell. Of course the Infected chased after it, distracted by the loud beeping sound emitting from it. After a few minutes the pipe bomb exploded, sending Infected flying.

"Incoming!" Chris shrieked.

Alarmed, Dylan glanced up sharply. A dead corpse was hurtling towards them. The Hunter and Smoker quickly ducked as the corpse flew past. They heard the thud as it landed a few feet away from them. Chris looked back, eye alight in horror.

"Holy shit dude!"

Dylan eyed the dead Infected coldly before returning his attention to the brawl below. More Infected had shown up on the scene and he could hear the shouted words of, 'Reloading!' fill his eardrums. Suddenly he spotted Zoey surrounded. Her eyes were glistening in fear as she fired madly at her attackers. Either the Gods hated her or wanted to punish her for something she did because at the worst possible time ever, she ran out of ammo.

"I'm out!" exclaimed the former student, horror lacing her voice.

The Infected took this as chance to attack. Dylan lost sight of the girl as she disappeared in a mass of blood-hungry undead. Nearby Luigi spotted the misfortune that befallen Zoey and sprang into action.

"Zoey, hang on!" he yelled, barreling into the Infected.

The sight stupefied him. Since when did his twin brother get so strong? The Infected let out angry shouts and charged at the brown-haired boy who opened fire immediately.

"Pick on somebody your own species!" Luigi snarled, killing the last of Zoey's assailants. He turned to the former college girl who lay in pain on the ground with her pistol out. "Are you okay?" he asked nervously, beginning to help her up.

She nodded bleakly. "Yeah, just roughed up a bit but I'll be fine."

"I'll heal you later, I promise." Luigi then stationed himself protectively in front of Zoey and fired at two Infected that had rushed toward him.

Dylan nudged Chris who seemed hypnotized by the situation. His friend gave a startled jump and looked at him questioningly.

"What?" he asked and coughed. "RAGH! What the–?"

Dylan cut him off with a growl. "Shut up for like two minutes Chris and listen to what I have to say!" When the wide-eyed Smoker grew quiet he continued. "See that girl in the red jacket? That's Zoey."

"So…?"

"And she's hurt really badly and is close to death unless one of them helps her," Dylan snapped impatiently.

"Okay…what does that have to do with me?" Chris asked.

Dylan smiled, quiet despite his usual attitude. His Smoker friend, afraid of this, inched away a little and gazed at him suspiciously.

"Simple, I want you to use your tongue and pull her up here." Dylan told him.

"_What?"_ Chris seemed shocked before busting out laughing. "Aw c'mon! You've got to be kidding right?"

The Hunter gave him a hard stare. The Smoker returned the stare with an 'Are you serious?' look. A silence hung over them for a minute and, when Dylan's glare didn't waver, Chris cleared his throat uneasily but then coughed again.

"But–cough–Dylan!" Chris paused to get his coughing under control before speaking again. "That's just a ticket to death for me! What if they get the wrong idea when they see me pulling Zoey towards the roof?"

"Hmm…you may be right but that's a risk we'll have to take." Dylan murmured, ignoring Chris' squeak of shock. He glanced back down towards the Horde and the struggling Survivors. "Something tells me Luigi will make sure they don't hurt you."

The Smoker sighed. "I dunno…"

He cut off when a distant roar could be heard. Dylan sat bolt upright from where he had been crouching. He knew that roar! That must mean…

"A Tank!" he gasped, grabbing his friend's shoulder and shaking him wildly. "There's a Tank coming! Didn't you hear its roar? Those Survivors will die if that Tank gets them!"

But Chris didn't seem to hear as he whined childishly, "I am _not_ a ragdoll!"

Snarling, Dylan pinned the Smoker to the ground and dug his claws into Chris' shoulder. A pained grunt came from the withering Smoker beneath him.

"Hey! Cut it out, your nails are sharp!"

Furious about Chris' unwillingness to help, the Hunter raised one of his hands and posed to strike. The Smoker's blue eye widened at this and his struggling became desperate as he fought to free himself from Dylan's grip.

"Okay! Okay! I'll help them! I'll help them! Just…don't hurt me please!" Chris begged. He was so terrified that he was close to crying.

Giving the Smoker a rude sniff, Dylan got off of him. Chris glared at him as he got to his feet. The Smoker paused for a minute to cough before pinpointing Zoey and shooting out his tongue. The Hunter screwed his face in disgust at the sight of the appendage. Truth be told he found it utterly gross and that having a tongue that long should be illegal. A surprised yell told him that Chris had captured Zoey. He peered back down to see the college girl struggling furiously against the grip of his friend's tongue.

"Somebody help!" Zoey screamed, kicking and struggling even harder as Chris proceeded to drag her up towards the rooftop the two were stationed at.

"My god!" Chris said, his words somewhat inaudible due to the fact of his tongue. "This chick is heavy! You owe me _big_ for this Dylan."

Dylan didn't reply. He eyes were locked onto Louis who had heard Zoey's frantic screaming. He saw the man raise his gun and aim it directly at Chris' head. Panic shot through him. One pull of that trigger and his blond-haired friend was done for! He quickly searched for his twin, spotting him shooting at some Infected. If he got Luigi's attention then the boy would realize that they were trying to help and tell Louis not to shoot.

"Luigi!" Dylan cried down loudly.

Said boy looked up sharply when he heard his name being called. Luigi grew confused for a second before he spotted a wrapped-up Zoey being dragged toward a nearby rooftop. _Smoker!_ the boy growled silently, quickly spotting the Special Infected. He raised his gun in an attempt to shoot it and save Zoey when he stopped in his tracks.

Movement beside the Smoker had caught his attention and he felt his bright blue eyes widening when he spotted a Hunter. He knew he should shoot it, every instinct in his body was screaming at him to pull the trigger. Luigi couldn't though. He knew that Hunter because that one particular Hunter happened to be his twin brother Dylan–the brother he believed to have died when the Infection started, but only to find out that he had been turned into one of those hooded freaks instead.

_Dylan what are you–is that Chris?_ Luigi almost choked when he suddenly realized that the Smoker holding Zoey hostage with its tongue had blond hair and a blue eye that were so familiar to him. Chris was his friend as well as William's best friend and the two had also come to believe that he was dead. It was then that he knew what the two Infected were doing.

They were _helping_ them!

From the corner of his eyes he saw Louis aiming a gun at Chris.

"Louis don't shoot!" Luigi screeched, running top-speed towards the man.

Louis gave a surprised shout when he felt Luigi crash into him. The impact made him pull the trigger and the sound of his gun firing filled the air.

_No! Chris!_ Dylan thought when he heard the gun fire. He expected to hear the pained scream come from his friend and turn to see him lying dead on the floor, but nothing happened. Confused, he looked to see that the bullet had missed Chris and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Luigi, what are you doing?" Louis spat, shoving Luigi away from him. "What the hell is wrong with you? Saving these Infected? They're trying to kill us in case you haven't noticed!"

"Not those Infected!" Luigi reassured, gesturing over toward the Smoker and Hunter standing on the roof. "They're helping us!"

"Why would those Infected help us?" Francis growled, overhearing.

William glared at his little brother over his shoulder. "Shut up Luigi! With you blabbing away like that this Horde is going to end up kill us all!"

"Hey guys!" a voice piped up, cutting its way into the argument. The five guys quieted and looked up in the direction of the voice. Imagine their surprise, except for Luigi, when they spotted Zoey waving from atop a roof with the Smoker and Hunter standing on either side of her. "It's okay! They're only trying to help us!"

"Told you." Luigi said snidely. He turned to his fellow Survivors. "Just let the Smoker pull you up. Apparently they saw that we were in trouble against this Horde–" He paused to shoot at an Infected before continuing. "–and obviously realized that we needed help."

Bill nodded in agreement. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Luigi is right."

"For once." Francis added unnecessarily.

Without speaking since one of the Survivors were with them, Dylan nodded for Chris to pull up another one. His friend complied and shot out his tongue once again, this time grabbing hold of Bill and began pulling him up. Dylan was getting nervous. His now highly-sensitive ears could pick up the roaring of the Tank fast approaching. Chris needed to get the remaining Survivors up here and be quick about it.

While he was worrying over the approaching Tank he failed to notice Chris had successfully pulled Bill onto the roof and shoot out his tongue again, this time grabbing Louis. Bill and Zoey hung a little way back, cautious about them even though they had helped them. Dylan rolled his eyes inside the hood of his jacket. Humans could be so stupid at times. Louis shortly joined them and it was now Francis' turn. Dylan could hear the biker grumbling as he was being pulled up. He connected palm to face. All that remained were his two brothers still shooting at the Infected below.

_Just two left._ he thought to himself_, and the Tank is still far away. By the time it gets here Chris would have already pulled Luigi and William to safety. Then they could kill the Tank while they're on the roof and it's on the ground. The plan is going god so far, just so long as nothing…shit!_

He didn't need Bill's warning of, 'Hunter!' to know that one had decided to show up. He heard it coming even before it let out its bone-chilling scream. The black-haired Hunter quickly checked on William and Luigi. The two were still shooting and oblivious to the Special Infected making its way toward them.

Quickly, Chris shot out his tongue, grabbed William, and began dragging him away from the danger of the newcomer. Luigi was all alone now and lonely Survivors are proven Hunter favorite. Tensing his muscles, Dylan crouched and readied himself to pounce. As soon as the other Hunter came into view and made a lunge for his twin did he pounce, letting out a shrill scream as he did so.

He rammed into the other Hunter and sent the both of them sprawling against the ground. Dylan regained balance first and got to his feet, eyeing the other Hunter carefully. If it wanted to fight he would give it one. The other Hunter got to its feet as well, growling angrily as it faced him. The two squared off for a moment before the other leapt towards him. Dylan quickly stepped to one side, clawing the other Hunter as it flew past and could feel blood splatter his hand as his sharp nails pierced through the skin of his enemy's side.

This angered the other Hunter for it quickly spun around and leaped for him again, snarling viciously and forgetting about Luigi. Dylan huffed and sprang forward as well, meeting his enemy head-on. They crashed into each other and rolled across the ground in a mass of slashing claws. Dylan luckily managed to pin the other Hunter against the ground with him on top, one hand against its throat and the other holding it down with the help of his knees clamped down on the Hunter's sides. He wasn't going to kill this Hunter, oh no. He planned to keep it pinned beneath him long enough for Chris to get Luigi to the roof before he let it go. Upon quick inspection of his enemy, he felt realization dawn over him as he recognized just who the other Hunter was.

"Duke?" Dylan gasped but didn't let go.

"Yes, it's me!" Duke struggled. "What the hell? Get off of me! Can't you see that stupid Survivor would make a good snack for us if only you let me get him!"

The black-haired Hunter's eyes narrowed. "No," he growled, showing off his teeth which, he would have to admit, have grown sharp since he first turned into a Hunter. "That Survivor would make a good snack for _you_, not us."

Duke shrugged. "And? What's your point? It's in our blood to kill so let me at him!" he snarled, his emerald green eyes gleaming in anger that Dylan wouldn't let him go.

Dylan shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry Duke, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that." he simply said.

Upon hearing this Duke's eyes narrowed to slits. Dylan braced himself but was unprepared when a hand came from nowhere. He felt himself being swatted away like some kind of stubborn fly and cursed. Even as a Hunter he still possessed his fragile body from when he was human.

"You're helping them aren't you?" an angry voice sounded above.

He looked up into the hate-filled gaze of Duke. This time it was him who was being pinned. Instinctively he struggled, but couldn't shake off the bigger and stronger Hunter. Dylan didn't reply to Duke's question, just spat angrily and struggled some more. Suddenly he felt the other Hunter's weight lift off him and looked up just in time to see Luigi spin-kicking Duke off of him. He scrambled to his feet, blinking in surprise. Just then a tongue appeared, wrapping itself securely around his twin's torso and pulling him into the air.

"Whoa!" Luigi squeaked as Chris struggled to get him on the roof.

Duke recovered from the impact of the kick and got to his hands and feet. He glared furiously after the Survivor before locking his gaze on the black-haired Hunter in front of him. But before he could spat angrily at Dylan, the ground started shaking violently, heralding the entrance of the Tank. The two Hunters whipped around to see that said Special Infected had finally made it. It roared angrily, looking around for the Survivors.

"Don't waste your breath Erik!" Duke scoffed. "Those two _idiots_ over there decided to help them."

Erik, the Tank, grunted angrily. "I always knew you two had soft hearts for those humans. It doesn't surprise me that you saved them." He sighed in disappointment. "There goes my fun."

"And mine as well." Duke agreed sadly.

Dylan curled his lips in disgust. The two Special Infected were treating the Survivors as playthings. He shook his head angrily at them. The two noticed this and their eyes glittered mischievously.

"What? Are you mad that we're talking about your precious Survivors?" Duke taunted.

Erik laughed a throaty laugh. "What are you going to do about it?" he challenged.

"Nothing," Dylan growled lowly. "I don't have to time nor care to stoop to your petty discussions."

And with that he leaped away. After landing on the roof with the others, he looked back to see Duke staring at him through narrowed eyes.

_He won't attack us._ Dylan thought silently. _Duke's not that stupid._

As if confirming his thoughts, Duke snapped something at Erik. The two turned and walked off slowly. The Survivors and Infected watched them until the darkness swallowed them up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, guys! I'm back. Sorry for the hiatus–I started college and my English class likes to weigh me down with homework. But I have chapter 6 for you! And, unlike the last five chapters, this chapter features new content not seen in the original UC. Seriously. Hint: The brothers' back story is different this time around. Go read it for yourself, yeah?**

**Before I forget, shout out to ****InlovewithNicholas**** for adding this story to their Alert list!**

**Onto the chapter! **

* * *

Chapter 6

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "Those bastards are in for a big surprise!" ~Bill**

The sound of clicking guns made Dylan and Chris freeze. The two turned around to see the Survivors they had just saved pointing their weapons at them. Luigi hung back behind his teammates, distress glistening eyes. Dylan could feel Chris quivering beside him and guessed the Smoker was resisting the urge to run. He leaned toward him cautiously.

"Don't try to run, they'll just shoot you." he whispered in his friend's ear.

Zoey glanced over at Bill. "What do we do with them?"

"I say we kill them!" Francis spoke before Bill could. "Help us or not they're still those fucking vampires."

"They're Infected Francis," Luigi said quietly.

William's brow furrowed. "What I don't get is why they helped us in the first place. They're no different from any regular Smoker and Hunter."

"We shouldn't take any chances." Louis agreed.

"You can't possibly kill them!" Luigi exclaimed. His eyes had grown wide. "If they wanted to attack us don't you think they would have by now?"

Bill sighed. "The boy's right you know. I say we let them go this time, but if we see them again then we have every right to shoot 'em."

Dylan's eyes narrowed.

"I still think we should've shot them," Francis grumbled. He then fixed the Hunter and Smoker with a hate-filled glare. "You heard the old man! Get out of here before we change our minds and kill you!"

Chris didn't hesitate as he raced for the edge of the rooftop and jumped down. Only the Hunter remained, eyes still narrowed at the Survivors. A furious, yet somewhat frustrated snarl escaped his lips. He bunched his muscles before leaping high over their heads and disappeared in a patch of darkness. The Survivors stayed put until they made sure that the two Infected were gone. Then Bill straightened.

"Right then. Should we continue?"

The group nodded and walked after him as he took the lead. Luigi hung back and thrust out a hand to catch William's wrist. His big brother looked back at him questioningly.

"What's up?"

Luigi's gaze was serious. "Listen Willy, I've gotta tell you something."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Y'know those Infected that helped us? Well, I know something about them." the younger of the two began nervously.

"Which is…?" William prompted as he raised an eyebrow.

A big sigh escaped Luigi's lips. He met his brother's gaze bravely. "They're Dylan and Chris."

William stared at him in surprise without speaking. He wondered if his brother had even heard him at all. Then, after a minute or two passed, William burst out laughing as if what he had just told him was the funniest thing ever. Luigi frowned at this.

"Oh man! You're such a jokester, Weegee!" his big brother laughed. "For a minute there I thought you were being serious!"

Luigi's eyes widened. "I _was_ being serious!"

The silence returned as William quieted down again. He stared at his little brother for a long time. Luigi gulped anxiously as he waited for what the latter would say. Then William's brow furrowed and an angry expression took over his features.

"I thought we already came to terms that Dylan is dead."

Luigi shook his head rapidly. "Dylan is the Hunter. I swear he is! I even talked to him myself."

"You left the safe room?" William's hands balled into fists. _"Alone?!"_

"That doesn't matter," Luigi said quickly. "What matters is that our brother is _alive!_ Chris is too. He's the Smoker. Willy, how did you _not_ notice that blond hair and blue eye?"

Tears seemed to pool in William's dark blue eyes at his words, but as soon as they appeared they vanished. His face was devoid of all emotions whatsoever. Luigi tried not to flinch away as William leaned in until their noses were barely grazing each other's.

"They. Are. _Dead._ Luigi." William hissed slowly through gritted teeth. "Dead! What don't you understand?"

"How come you won't listen to me?" Luigi demanded, growing frustrated. "Dylan told me that he still has humanity in him!"

"Are you hearing the bullshit coming out of your mouth? That's not possible. And another thing, Dylan _did not_ change after that Hunter bit him!"

"But William–!"

"No!" William snarled, causing Luigi to flinch. "Dylan is dead, stop trying to say otherwise! And Chris… We don't know what happened to him. Maybe he evacuated with his family. Maybe not. So, please shut up. I don't want to hear any more of it. Come on before others start wondering where we are."

With that, William walked off. Misery rolled over Luigi like a wave. He bowed his head sadly, shoved his hands into his pockets, and trudged after his big brother.

**Philadelphia. Two days after first Infection:**

_The media was, once again, going on a frenzy about the Green Flu. Dylan, Luigi, and William were with their Aunt and Uncle in the living room watching the latest news about the sickness. Luigi and their Aunt were scared out of their minds while William and their Uncle were taking the situation seriously. Dylan's face gave nothing away._

_Suddenly the sound of someone beating furiously on the front door drowned out the sounds of the TV. Their Uncle immediately leapt to his feet, alarm written over his face. He was about to go see what was going on when five unfamiliar figures stormed into the living room. They were all deathly pale with rotting flesh wearing torn, tattered, and bloodied clothes, their eyes a sickly white color. The intruders gave murderous shrieks and charged at them._

_At the sound of his Uncle's voice telling them to run, William grabbed his brothers and raced off further into the house to hide. He paused briefly to see if his Aunt was following, but she was engaging the Infected alongside his Uncle. The three brothers ran into the guest room. While William and Dylan worked together to use a dresser to barricade the door, Luigi had hidden himself underneath the bed. They stayed in the guest room until the ruckus died down. William made a move to push away the dresser, but Dylan stopped him._

_"Are you sure it's safe to leave?" the black-haired teen asked._

_"I dunno," William admitted. "But we have to make sure our Aunt and Uncle are okay."_

_He went back to his earlier task after Dylan nodded with agreement. Luigi came crawling out from underneath the bed when Dylan and William crept out cautiously into the hallway. When they reached the living room, the brothers could only stare in shock. There was blood everywhere. The couches, coffee tables, and TV were overturned. Littering the floor were the dead bodies of the Infected and their Aunt and Uncle._

_A loud cry of grief came from Luigi as he fell to his knees wailing. William continued to stare in disbelief while Dylan, his expression perpetually neutral, leapt into action._

_"We need to burn these corpses," He nodded toward the Infected. "You two see to that while I barricade the house. Afterwards, we bury our Aunt and Uncle."_

_With that, Dylan scurried off to the front door to inspect the damage done to it. William and Luigi, after a bit of coaxing, dragged the Infected's bodies off to the backyard. It was there that the two threw the bodies into a pile and set it ablaze. They went back inside right after, not fancying the idea of smelling the stench of rotting, burning flesh. They found Dylan trying to barricade a window and struggling with a piece of furniture._

_"Can I ask why you're doing this?" William walked over to help._

_"Those _things _are outside," Dylan growled._

_Luigi whimpered and looked around fearfully at that. Once the house was barricaded, the brothers set out to bury their Aunt and Uncle. They took a few minutes to grieve for them before receding back into the house._

_They had to take sleeping pills that night to go to sleep._

–

_"Brother! Brother, come quickly!"_

_William came rushing towards Luigi at the sound of his frantic voice. His little brother was gazing worriedly at Dylan who washed his hands furiously._

_"What's going on?" he demanded._

_"He was bit, brother!" Luigi announced, his eyes round with worry. "A hooded thingy bit him!"_

_They would find out later on that the 'hooded thingy' was a Hunter._

_"He's taking this out of proportion!" Dylan snapped. "It _barely_ bit me before it got a face full of shovel!"_

_"What were you doing outside anyways?" William interrogated angrily._

_Dylan glared at him. "I was paying my respects to our Aunt and Uncle. Are you going to deny me tha–"_

_He broke off as he suddenly collapsed to the floor, withering around wildly. Luigi squeaked with alarm while William crouched down beside Dylan. His brother's skin was paler than usual with beads of sweat forming on his brow. The bite from the hooded thingy was already an angry red. The wound was infected, and Dylan had just received it not too long ago. William touched his brother gently on the cheek. He soon found himself pulling his hand away when Dylan tried to bite him. He stared down at the other in shock._

He almost bit me…

_Dylan snarled and lashed out. William barely drew back in time to avoid getting his face clawed._

_"Dylan, what the hell?!" he spat._

_He paused and just stared at his brother, ignoring Luigi's cries for him to get away from Dylan. Dylan's eyes had turned red and were glowing, as if he were some kind of demon. His fingernails had grown in length resembling claws and his bared teeth looked sharp. Dylan generally looked like his wanted to kill William._

_"What the hell's going on?" William muttered, face screwing up in disgust when Dylan threw up blood. He looked over at Luigi when Dylan became eerily quiet._

_"Is he dead?" Luigi whispered in horror._

_William cautiously checked Dylan's pulse, half expecting his brother to attack him again. "He's alive," he reported after a while. "Just unconscious."_

_"Zombies…" Luigi whimpered._

_"What?"_

_"Zombies! Those things outside are zombies! It's a zombie apocalypse!" Luigi wailed. "They killed our Auntie and Uncle and now our brother is going to turn into one of them!"_

_"Luigi, you don't know this!" William snapped at him._

_"We're going to die!"_

_"Be quiet!"_

_Luigi fell silent, sniffling. William sighed heavily._

_"We're not going to die," he said calmly. "And if Dylan was turning into a zombie then he would have by now. Remember the movies? It doesn't take that long to turn after you get bit."_

_"But then…?"_

_"Look, Weegee, can the questions wait? We have to treat Dylan."_

_Silently William applied antibiotics on Dylan's bite and Luigi wrapped gauze around it thoroughly. Then they sat back and waited for their brother to come to, listening in dread as guttural noises slipped past Dylan's lips. Whenever the teen's body was racked by spasms, William and Luigi would restrain him. There was a point where Dylan was shivering so Luigi went upstairs to fetch him a hoodie. Every so often, they would set out on treating the bite again before delving back into their waiting game._

_Dylan never regained consciousness that day. The brothers reluctantly retired for the night when the clock almost struck midnight._

_When William woke up the next morning, the first thing he did was go check on Dylan. His baby brother was nowhere to be found. Panicking, William searched the whole house, but still no sign of Dylan. He soon found himself staring at a piece of furniture that had been moved out of its place slightly._

_"He left," he whispered when he heard footsteps behind him._

_Luigi blinked. "What? He left? N-No… There's no way."_

_"He _left._" William repeated bitterly. He turned around to face Luigi with tears in his eyes. "How could he do that? He fucking abandoned us, and now he's most likely dead!"_

_He broke out into hysterics. Luigi immediately went to go comfort him and the two brothers cried for what seemed like hours. Eventually, William pulled away and wiped his face._

_"W-We should have gone on that business trip with Mamma and __Papà to Italy," Luigi said in a broken voice. "T-Then we wouldn't have to put up with this shit."_

_"We're leaving," William said._

_"What?"_

_"You heard me. We. Are. Leaving. The food's eventually going to run out and I'd be damned dying of starvation. Stay here. I'll go get the guns. I know where Uncle hid them. Do you know how to use one?"_

_Luigi twiddled his thumbs. "I-It's just like a camera, right? You just point and shoot."_

_William just nodded, satisfied with the response._

_"B-Brother, how do you know how to use one?"_

_"Uncle taught me how to use one when he and I went hunting." William told him before walking off._

_While his big brother went to go get their weapons, Luigi grabbed a photo of their family and stowed it away in the breast pocket of his shirt–near his heart. Soon the brothers were exiting their house and gunning down any Infected too close for comfort. William surveyed their surroundings closely, debating where they should go. An evacuation outpost obviously, he just didn't know where one was._

_"Brother, where are we going to go?" Luigi asked._

_William opened his mouth to reply when the sound of distant gunfire caught his attention. He couldn't help but grin at the noise._

_"You hear that? There are people out there who survived this shit! We should go find them!"_

_Luigi nodded with a smile. "Sounds like a plan."_

_"Alright!" William cocked his shotgun. "Let's go!"_

_Together they headed off in the direction of the gunfire._

–

The memory was still fresh in Luigi's mind. He took the photo out from his pocket and stared at it sadly. Things would have been so much more different if the brothers had gone to Italy with their mother and father. Dylan wouldn't have turned into a Hunter, and they wouldn't have to deal with the loss of their aunt and uncle until after the Infection was over. He stopped walking when realization dawned on him.

William felt like a failure.

_No wonder he reacted the way he did when I said Dylan is still alive,_ Luigi thought.

William is the big brother. He was supposed to protect his little brothers through thick and thin. But he had failed to protect Dylan.

_Maybe,_ Luigi began. _Maybe if I showed him that Dylan isn't actually dead then he'd stop being so down on himself._

With the thought in mind, the teen slunk away while making sure the others weren't paying attention.

He was determined to find Dylan.

* * *

**Interesting Fact: 1) Luigi and Bros.' aunt and uncle are named: Sophie and Sebastian.**

**2) Their parents are named: Luciano and Hailey.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Memorable Survivor Quote: "If we meet anyone, tell 'em we're cops." ~Francis**

Dylan sat atop a rooftop looking out into the abandoned streets below. A cool breeze blew by and he closed his eyes peacefully. He needed to be alone after the disastrous meeting with the Survivors so he decided to stop by his favorite rooftop. Here there was a great view of Fairfield and he enjoyed it immensely.

It was still raining and, not liking the idea of his hair getting wet, he pulled his hood securely over his head. He went cross-eyed as a raindrop found its way onto his nose. He stared at it for a few seconds before swatting it away with a slap of his hand. He failed to notice that another Hunter had accompanied him.

Slowly, Dylan turned towards it and nodded a curt, somewhat awkward greeting to it. The other acknowledged him with a nod in return and the two sat together watching the view and enjoying the balmy breezes. Soon the other Hunter grew tired. Growling what seemed like a farewell, it bunched its muscles and leapt away. He watched it go for a minute before continuing his sight-seeing.

Dylan stiffened with alarm when a sudden ruckus sounded behind him. He whipped around to see a figure making its way blindly through the darkness. The Hunter cautiously sniffed the air, his eyes widening at the familiar scent.

"Luigi, what the hell are you doing out here?" Dylan called out.

More ruckus and Luigi soon stepped out into a shaft of moonlight. He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. The Hunter frowned.

"I came looking for you," Luigi said.

"Why?"

His twin flinched at his harsh tone. "I-I wanted to apologize for what happened."

Dylan _tched._ "It was to be expected," he growled.

"True, but I'm sure if I'd explained to them that you were my twin brother and Chris was my friend then they wouldn't have done that." Luigi told him.

"They wouldn't have believed you."

Luigi looked like he wanted to argue, but reluctantly nodded with agreement. "I know." He sighed. "I tried to convince William, but it's just like you said: He didn't believe me."

"Of course he didn't!" Dylan snapped.

"Why do you think that is?"

The Hunter sighed. God, his twin was such an idiot.

"The idea of Infected retaining their sanity is ludicrous," Dylan began slowly. "Plus, William already feels like an utter failure. Don't go adding insult to injury by telling him I'm still alive."

"That's the thing! I came looking for you so you can come back with me and show big brother that you're still alive. That way he'd stop beating himself up over you. Please come with me!" Luigi begged.

"No. Dammit, Luigi, don't you ever think? Just let William keep believing I'm dead. Drop it. _Now._"

Silence hung over them. Dylan turned back around while Luigi shuffled his feet, biting his lip. It wasn't long before he piped up again.

"If you and Chris have humanity, and I'm pretty sure Chris does if he's hanging out with you, as Infected, then where are the others? There _has_ to be more."

"Huh?" Dylan looked back at him surprised.

Luigi brought up a finger to tap against his chin. "It's likely that if you two managed to keep humanity then there is a high possibility of others like you hanging around here. Am I right on this, or what?"

Dylan stared at him through narrowed eyes. _Since when did you get so smart? Hmph, looks like you're not the idiot I used to know._

"You're right, for once." he grunted.

Luigi fist-pumped. "Yes! I knew it!" He smiled at Dylan. "Can I meet them?"

The Hunter didn't reply right away. He frowned at the question while wondering if it was smart to bring Luigi to the others. After all he had no business with them. Eventually, he made up his mind because if he knew Luigi, his twin would keep bothering him about it until he finally gave in.

"Okay Luigi," Dylan began to which Luigi brightened happily. "I'll bring you to them, but rest assured that you're in our turf now. Screw up once and not even I will be able to help you."

His twin nodded enthusiastically. "I won't screw up!"

Dylan resisted the urge to connect palm to face.

His brother was going to royally screw up. He just knew it.

"Whatever," Dylan murmured. "Now climb on my back.

Luigi tilted his head to side in confusion. "Why?"

Dylan growled impatiently. "Unless you want to commit suicide when you jump down, I suggest you shut up and do as I say!"

"Okay, okay!" Luigi held up his hands in a 'cool-off' gesture. "Keep your damn… Uh… Sweatpants on."

Despite saying this, the Survivor stayed where he was. Dylan sighed.

"What now?"

"Are you sure I won't squash you?" Luigi questioned. "You're not exactly known for you strength."

"If I am able to climb up the sides of buildings and leap great distances without breaking every bone in my body, then I'm pretty sure I can carry you." Dylan told his twin coolly.

Luigi said no more. He walked over and climbed onto his twin's back, clamping his arms and legs around him tightly. Soon the two were airborne as Dylan leapt off the rooftop onto another one. Luigi glanced down and gulped fearfully at how far from the ground they were.

"Don't look," Dylan called back to him.

Taking his advice, Luigi decided to enjoy the feel of the wind in his face. Adrenaline soon coursed through him as they continued jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop. He smiled hugely. Everything was a blur and, when he glanced down again, the Infected resembled ants. It was like they were in Assassin's Creed, but he doubt those assassins could jump as far as Dylan can. When everything went back to normal, he was going to seriously consider learning how to parkour.

"If you don't want to get that pretty lil' face of yours scratched the hell out of, I would suggest ducking." Dylan said over his shoulder suddenly as he dove towards a patch of thick trees. Luigi squeaked in alarm and buried his face in the black fabric of the Hunter's hoodie. He heard the branches swish as they crashed through the leaves. The curl on the very top of his head got snagged on a branch, but he didn't cry out as pain coursed through him. He lifted his head slightly to find Dylan skillfully jumping from branch-to-branch. They were soon bursting out of the trees and landing in front of a house.

His eyes growing wide with fascination, Luigi slid off Dylan's back. Unlike the houses he's seen, this once didn't have an uninviting atmosphere around it and it didn't look decrepit. The lights gleaming from inside almost seemed welcoming. The house's bricks were gray-and-white, the roof made of black shingles, and a chimney. A pathway made up of rocks lead the way to the front door. He turned to his twin with a smile.

"You guys live here?"

Dylan nodded. "Chris is the one who found the house. It's nice, a perfect place for us to sit back and relax."

He started off toward the front door without waiting to see if Luigi was following. After a few more seconds of admiring the house, Luigi walked after him. Inside the house, Dylan led Luigi down a small hallway and ignoring the living room when they passed it. Luigi paused in the doorway and peered inside curiously. It looked like any old living room with couches, a coffee table, pictures on the walls, and a TV.

"Dylan, you're back!" a voice rang out excitedly. He turned away from the living room to see a blond-haired Smoker waving at his twin as Dylan walked into the dining room.

The Hunter acknowledged Chris with a nod. "We have a guest," He pointed over his shoulder at Luigi.

Silence hung in the air. Chris stared at Luigi through a wide eye.

"Oh my God, that's one of the Survivors!" the Smoker gasped after a while.

Luigi chuckled. "Hello to you too, Chris."

Chris blinked and stared at him some more. Realization soon dawned on him and Luigi didn't have a chance to react as he was pulled into a hug.

"Luigi! It's so good to see you alive and kicking!" Chris cheered.

"I'd be damned before I let those bastards kill me," Luigi said.

The Smoker smirked. "Hell yeah!" He then blinked and looked past Luigi. Confusion clouded his features. "Hey… Where's the rest of your group? They didn't come with you?"

He shook his head. "I came alone."

"Was that a smart thing to do?"

"Nope," Luigi said. "But I had to find Dylan."

Chris _hmm'ed._ "Oh. Okay. So! How's William?"

"He's fine."

"Why didn't William come with you? He knows us."

"Actually," Luigi rubbed an arm uncomfortably. "William didn't believe me when I told him that you and Dylan were the Hunter and Smoker. He thinks Infected can't retain their humanity. What _did_ happen to you?"

Chris didn't respond right away. After a while, however, he spoke, sadness in his voice.

"As soon as the Infection hit, my family and I booked it to the nearest evacuation outpost. It became overrun by Infected and I lost my family in the panic. I was trying to find them when an Infected bit me. I-I don't remember what happened after that. All I know is that when I woke up, I was a Smoker." Chris let out a shaky sigh. "I didn't know what to do. I've never felt so lonely in my life. But by some lucky twist of fate, I ran into Dylan."

Luigi gave him a sympathetic smile. "That's good to… Holy fucking shit a Witch!"

He cowered against the wall as said Special Infected came walking daintily down another hallway. The Witch's hair was a ginger sheen and she wore blue jeans with a pink low-cut shirt that allowed a little cleavage to be shown. She also had a necklace and earrings on. His eyes grew wide as an owl's and his breathing quickened with his rising panic. Chris shot him an amused glance while Dylan retreated into the kitchen.

"Calm down dude," the Smoker advised. "That's Akiko. She's a Witch, but she's not a Witch."

Luigi gave him a weird look. _"What?"_

"She doesn't act like those other Witches is what I'm getting at. In fact, she gets offended if you compare her to them."

The other gave an incredulous snort. "Like I'm going to believe that. They're all the same: Harmless until you piss them off where they'll go all psycho emo bitch on you."

Dylan mentally smacked himself in the head while Chris' eye widened as an outraged shriek filled the house. He _knew_ Luigi was going to fuck up.

"What the hell did you just say?!"

Luigi didn't get a chance to react as he was suddenly pinned against the wall by an offended Akiko, one of her long claws pressed against his throat. Her glowing red eyes stared straight into his blue ones.

"You should learn your place Survivor!" Akiko hissed as she applied a little pressure against Luigi's throat. "Who do you think you are coming here and making false assumptions about us?"

"Akiko, calm down." Dylan murmured. "He's a major idiot and doesn't know any better. As his twin brother, I apologize on his behalf."

Chris added, "Would you _really_ kill him?"

Akiko paused, but continued to glare angrily at Luigi. He stared back at her in horror. The Witch then stepped back with a disdainful sniff.

"You're right," Akiko _hmphed_ as she took a seat on one of the four chairs at the bar that went along with the kitchen. "It just really pisses me off when they think they can say shit like that about us."

"Noted." Dylan looked at his terrified twin. "I think you owe her an apology."

"I-I'm sorry." Luigi stammered.

Akiko gazed at him for a few seconds before she gave him a small smile. "You're forgiven," she said before adding curiously, "What brings you to our little abode?"

"D-Dylan said he'd bring me to meet you guys 'cause I figured out that there were other humanity-holding Infected like him and Chris." Luigi replied.

"You're not as big an idiot as Dylan said you were. How do you know Chris?"

"He's my friend. I met him through my Big Bro. He and Chris are best friends."

Akiko just nodded in reply.

"LUIGI!"

Suddenly, a small Boomer appeared from nowhere, latched onto Luigi's wrists, and spun him around happily. The now dizzy Survivor stumbled around before being steadied by Dylan. When he came to, Luigi stared down at the Boomer still holding onto his wrists, its brown eyes glowing in a childlike merriment. It had blond hair and its one eye was brown. He raised an eyebrow.

This Boomer was so _tiny_ compared to the others.

"Hey Luigi, do you want to have some cake with me?" the Boomer asked, beginning to hop up and down.

He blinked as if he didn't quite understand what the Boomer was asking. "What? Cake?"

Beside him, Dylan gave a small smile. "Luigi, this is Tiney."

_Go figure._ Luigi thought.

"And Brock–" Luigi went back to cowering against the wall as a Tank walked in and stood directly behind Tiney. "–is our Tank."

"Don't worry," Chris soothed. "Brock wouldn't hurt a fly. He's like Tiney's bodyguard. Wherever Tiney is, Brock is right there beside him."

Luigi looked at Brock through wide eyes. Brock had black hair and reddish-brown eyes. The only difference between him and other Tanks was that his tongue didn't hang out of his mouth. He acknowledged Luigi with a friendly nod. After hesitating slightly, the Survivor gave the other a smile.

"Oh, and he doesn't talk much." Chris added.

The Survivor nodded with understanding before glancing down at Tiney when the Boomer addressed him again.

"So do you want to share some cake Luigi?" he asked.

Luigi smiled. "Sure."

With a big, 'Yay!' Tiney took off into the kitchen. Soon the Boomer returned holding two plates with a piece of cake on each. He handed a plate to Luigi before greedily digging into his cake. Luigi stared at the cake. It was chocolate; he always had a weakness for chocolate. Taking a big fork-full of his cake, he popped it into his mouth. The others waited silently for Luigi's reaction. A big toothy grin appeared on the Survivor's face after swallowing.

"That's some damn good cake." Luigi announced. "If only it came with strawberries. I _love_ strawberries."

Akiko and Chris both snickered, Tiney gave another, 'Yay!', and Brock's reddish-brown eyes glimmered in amusement. Dylan gave a small smile. They waited until Luigi and Tiney finished their treat before striking up conversation again.

"So how did you manage to get electricity here?" Luigi asked as he put his plate into the sink.

"Dylan and I found this house together," Chris explained. "And to our surprise, the electricity was still working. We'd be stupid to not take advantage of that."

Akiko nodded. "They did a good job. I love staying here. It's cozy and peaceful."

Luigi glanced over at her. "Your name's Japanese, right?"

The Witch winked at him. "You are correct, Survivor! My name means either 'autumn child', 'bright child', or 'sparkling child.' I personally like 'autumn child.' That was always my favorite season when I was human."

"Akiko's a really pretty name," Luigi complimented with a slight blush.

She giggled and looked at Dylan. "I like 'im! We should invite him over more often."

Dylan shook his head causing her to frown in disappointment. "Enjoy his company as long as he's here. He's going to have to get back to the Survivors eventually. There're going to Mercy Hospital to be evacuated and I doubt the helicopter pilot will come back for him if he gets left behind."

Everyone tilted their heads to the side. Akiko looked over at Luigi.

"Why doesn't the helicopter pilot just pick you and your group up on the streets instead of making you go to the hospital? That place is crawling with Infected. It's not going to be easy getting to the roof."

"Tell me about it," Luigi muttered.

"Aw! Can't Luigi stay for a little bit longer? He's really fun!" Tiney whined.

Dylan gritted his teeth when the Boomer gave him a kicked puppy look. He heaved a great big sigh. Tiney was the only one on this planet that could win him over with that look.

"I suppose…"

"Hooray!" Tiney cheered. "What do you want to do first, Luigi? We could play ping-pong! We have a ping-pong table in the living room! Brock and I were playing before you came! I won _three_ times in a row!"

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Chris piped up, killing the excitement. He looked nervous. "What if _they_ come over again? They've been paying us a lot of visits lately…"

The others stiffened at the Smoker's words. An uncomfortable silence filled the house as they exchanged worried glances. Luigi raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's the matter? Who's 'they?'" he interrogated.

"Another group of humanity-holding Special Infected who will kill you if they found out you're here." Dylan murmured darkly.

Luigi gulped fearfully.

"When Dylan and I saved your group, do you remember the Hunter and Tank that showed up?" Chris asked.

"Yes, I do. But what does this have to do with them?"

"They're part of that group Dylan is talking about," Chris said. "The Hunter is named Duke and the Tank's is Erik. Duke is their leader, kinda like how Dylan is ours. Erik is his wingman."

"If your group ever runs into them," Dylan piped up again, "kill them before they kill you. And trust me, they _will_ kill you–with no hesitation at all."

"They're the bad guys," Tiney whispered gravely.

Luigi furrowed his eyebrows. "But how will we know if it's them or not? They look just like the other Special Infected!"

"Look for a Hunter that has emerald green eyes," Akiko advised. "As for Erik… Well, not much I can help you on him. Just treat him like you would any other Tank."

The Survivor nodded slowly while making mental notes of this.

"Then there's Twila, their Witch." Chris said. "She has a _major_ crush on Dylan. I don't know why. Heh. I guess your brother's popular with the Witches."

While Chris and Luigi snickered at this, Dylan growled with annoyance.

"But, uhm, seriously: Stay away from her. Keep a lookout for a Witch with black hair. From what I hear, she really enjoys killing. I-I think she and Akiko used to be friends. Isn't that right, Akiko?"

The Witch didn't reply and only nodded. Luigi blinked at her sympathetically when he saw sadness gleaming in her hazel eyes. She gave him a small smile before looking away.

"And the last three guys are Damien the Smoker, Erik the Tank, and Hayden the Boomer. I wouldn't worry about Hayden. He's really lazy, so he won't give you much trouble. Now Damien and Erik… They'll try to make your lives hell. Erik, because he will carry out any order Duke gives him. We're actually a little bit afraid of him. He's very intimidating. Trust me." Chris paused to shudder before continuing. "Damien, because he's jealous. He wanted to be Duke's wingman, but Erik stole that position from him. He's determined to prove his loyalty to Duke, so he'll do anything, and I mean _anything,_ to prove it."

Dylan grunted with scorn. "In all honesty, he's a weakling. He lets his jealousy get the better of him and he's known to run when things don't go his way. As for picking them out from other Special Infected, Hayden has a baby blue eye, so look for that. And Damien… His eye is an amber color, but you wouldn't be able to tell from a distance. Just treat him like any other Smoker. Are you going to be able to remember everything we just told you?"

Luigi nodded, his brain buzzing with all this new information being presented to him. Dylan narrowed his eyes and stared at his twin for a while before giving a satisfied _hmph._ The Hunter then stiffened, sniffing the air with alarm. The others gave each other confused looks. Dylan swung his head toward Chris.

"Get Luigi out of here!" he snarled.

"What? Why?" Chris looked flustered.

"Don't ask questions!" Dylan snarled. "Just do it!"

Without another word, the Smoker grabbed Luigi's arm and dragged him off down the hallway. He then pushed the Survivor into his room before stepping inside and shutting the door.

"Wh-What's going on, Chris?" Luigi squeaked fearfully.

"I don't know," the Smoker admitted, "but judging by the urgency in Dylan's voice something–or someone–is coming. Just stay in here and be as quiet as possible. I'll go see what's up."

With that, the Smoker left while making sure to turn off the lights as he went. Luigi was left alone confused and terrified. He blindly navigated his way through Chris' dark room until he bumped into something. He reached out with his hand to brush against something soft and guessed it was his friend's bed. He climbed up on it and clutched the pillow as if his life depended on it.

Back in the dining room, the Special Infected were still as stone as knocking sounded. They didn't move as the knocking became more impatient.

"Open up! I know you're there!" Duke's impatient growl was heard from the other side of the door.

Akiko glanced sharply at Dylan. "What are they doing here?" she whispered urgently.

He shook his head. "I don't know." The Hunter saw from the corner of his grayish-greenish eyes where Chris was stationed in the hallway, away from the sight of the newcomers but still close enough to overhear their conversation.

Tiney moved around Brock so that he was sheltering behind the Tank as Dylan reluctantly walked over to the door. Akiko proceeded to look at her slender claws.

"Finally!" Duke exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Dylan narrowed his eyes when he noticed the rest of Duke's gang behind him.

"What brings you here, Duke?" he asked cautiously as he stepped back to let them bundle in.

The Hunter waved a hand in his direction. "We just thought we'd visit our good friends." Duke answered.

Akiko glared at him as he came into view. "Who said we were your friends?" she demanded angrily. "Because I sure as hell ain't."

Duke turned his head to give her a cold stare, but didn't say anything. He then turned his attention back to Dylan as the black-haired Hunter rejoined his friends.

"Actually, I came to ask you a question, Dylan." Duke announced.

Dylan raised a brow. "Which is…?"

The Hunter narrowed his green eyes at him. "Why did you and that Smoker of yours help those pathetic Survivors from that Horde?" he demanded.

The black-haired Hunter scoffed rudely at him; Duke growled deep in his throat. "You come all the way here demanding an explanation for our actions? As far as I'm concerned it's none of your damn business why we helped them."

"Oh, you'll give me an explanation, or I'll forcefully get one out of you." Duke made his words clear as he flexed his claws. "I didn't go through all that trouble thinking up that plan just so you pests could go and ruin it!"

"Yeah!" The voice of Damien spoke up. The Smoker glared furiously at Dylan. "I _had_ that stupid Survivor in the subway and then you and your dumbass had to come and ruin it! That little action just put you on my hate list."

"Like I care," Dylan murmured coldly. "We're not looking for a fight," he said to Duke.

"Now hold on, Dylan." Akiko raised a hand at him. "I wouldn't mind getting my claws on one of them."

"Really now?" Twila whipped her head to lock her gaze on the ginger-haired Witch. "Lay a claw on one of us, and I won't hesitate to kill you."

The words made Akiko leap out the chair and face her former best friend. "If I go down you're coming with me!"

"Where's that Smoker piece of shit?" Hayden demanded angrily. "I still have those bruises from where he punched the hell out of me! A low blow if you ask me, I was tangled in that tongue of his!"

"Leave Chris alone!" Tiney called bravely from behind Brock. "He was doing a good thing preventing you from hurting those Survivors."

Hayden rolled his baby blue eyes in exasperation. "Are you telling me that the one who likes _cake_ is going to preach about what's good and what's bad?" He yawned in boredom.

"Shut up! All of you!" Duke snarled commandingly. He waited until they quieted before turning his attention back to Dylan. "I just don't understand. Why would you, a Hunter, want to help those Survivors? It's in our blood to kill them so why not do it?"

"I have my intentions," Dylan murmured quietly. "You wouldn't understand."

Duke snorted. "Intentions like what? That you're too soft to bring yourself to kill one of them?" he taunted.

The words made anger boil up in Dylan's veins. "Don't say I'm soft." he growled.

"From what I'm hearing you're making yourself sound like a big pussy!" Duke continued his taunting. "What a disgrace to all the Hunters you are! I bet you wouldn't kill a Survivor even if one was tied–"

_**SLASH!**_

Duke cut off as Dylan, blinded by rage, proceeded to swipe him across the face. The black-haired Hunter gazed coldly at the other as he inspected the hand he used to attack with. Duke's blood stained his fingers and he wiped them off on his hoodie. Duke whipped his head to glare venomously at him, three ragged scratches evident on his face with blood already oozing from them.

"You little bastard!" Duke screeched as he leapt forward, only to be held back by Damien and Erik.

Dylan held his ground while Tiney, Brock, and Akiko stationed themselves at his side. They were all tensed and ready to fight. Glancing out the corner of his eyes, Dylan spotted Chris who was listening with a wide blue eye. An unspoken command made the Smoker turn and ever so silently walk back to Luigi.

The Survivor looked up as the door to Chris' room opened. Fear crashed over him as he thought it was an Infected, but relaxed when the familiar face of Chris was seen. Terror gleamed in his friend's eye as the Smoker rushed over to him and clamped his mouth shut with his hand before Luigi could say anything.

"Ssh." Chris warned. "You need to get out of here, Luigi. Duke and his little group are here and causing trouble. Dylan already made it worse after he bitch-slapped Duke across the face. Can't say I really care. He was asking for it. Anyways, you've to go."

The Smoker let his hand fall from Luigi's mouth and he walked over to his window. He managed to open it after a bit of a struggle, and gestured urgently for him to get out.

"Hurry up!" Chris whispered as Luigi stumbled from the bed and walked over to him. "Go and find those Survivors of yours and you better do it fast. I would go with you, but I think they need me. Be careful please."

"I will," Luigi vowed silently as he climbed out the window.

After that, Chris closed the window and left his room while shutting the door behind him.

"Where the hell have you've been?" Damien demanded as Chris walked in and took a position beside Akiko.

He glared at him. "None of your business!"

"I think they're hiding something from us!" Erik accused. "Why else would the Smoker choose this time to make an appearance?"

Suddenly, Duke sniffed the air suspiciously before whipping around with a sadistic smirk playing on his lips. The rest of his group followed his lead, turning around to see what their leader was looking at. Dylan felt his eyes bulge when they revealed a petrified Luigi trying to sneak past. The Survivor's bright blue eyes widened and he stared in terror at Duke and the rest of his group.

"Run, Luigi, run!" Chris screamed.

The Survivor didn't even hesitate as he turned on his heels and ran, vanishing into the trees. Duke gave a shriek and immediately gave chase. Dylan was right behind him, pushing through Damien, Erik, Twila, and Hayden.

* * *

Panting heavily, Luigi ran as fast as his legs would go while he navigated his way through the trees back into the familiar streets of Fairfield. He could hear the Hunter, Dylan said his name was Duke, right behind him leaping from tree branch-to-tree branch. In his panic, he forgot to pay attention to where he was going and tripped over a rather large branch.

He fell to the ground with a surprised yelp and winced as fiery pain flared up in his left ankle. Ignoring the pain, he got right back to his feet and continued to run.

_Dammit! Why a sprained ankle now of all times?_ Luigi thought as he gritted his teeth against the pain. A loud scream from behind told him that Duke was taking a leap at him. He nimbly dodged and changed course. He could hear a crash in the undergrowth behind him from where Duke landed.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he exploded from the trees. Rustling behind him made him curse as he realized that even though Duke had missed him the Hunter had still managed to catch up to him. Luigi didn't even know where he was going as he raced down the street. He even ignored the Infected that mingled there. Some of them raced for him when they saw him, but he quickly shot them down with his pistol.

The only thing racing through his mind was to either find a safe house or find the others.

* * *

_Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT! _Dylan continued to curse in his mind as he trailed after Duke and Luigi. He was in full pounce mode right now as he desperately tried to reach the two before Duke caught Luigi and killed his twin.

He burst from the trees and took a massive leap, landing on top of a building. From there he took off again with leaps and a couple of wall jumps from time-to-time. Eventually, he caught up to the two and could only watch in horror as Duke was only a couple of inches from Luigi. He then noticed that his twin, even though he was running, was limping.

_Fuck, he twisted his ankle!_ Dylan guessed. _Idiot! Why do you have to be stupid at the worst possible times! I guess you didn't change after all!_

As he was about to leap down and intercept Duke, a single gun shot made him freeze in his tracks.

* * *

Duke smiled hugely, showing off blood-stained teeth. He was closing in on the fleeing Survivor and couldn't wait to dig his claws into him. While he had been chasing the human in the woods, he watched as the panic-stricken Survivor tripped and sprained his ankle. Duke had to give him credit though: The Survivor got right back up even though his ankle hurt like hell.

As the space between him and the Survivor lessened, he decided now was the time to strike.

Duke bunched his muscles and took a massive leap.

He froze mid-pounce, and fell back onto his hands and feet as a bullet burrowed into the ground directly in front of him. Emerald green eyes narrowed, Duke glanced up slowly to see the Survivor he was chasing had found his other teammates. He couldn't help but sneer as his almost victim sheltered behind a Survivor with brown hair tied up in a ponytail. The Survivor that had shot at him was lean and mean-looking, tattoos on his arms.

_Aw, the little game is over!_ Duke felt a wave of disappointment.

He pointedly turned his back on the Survivors and leapt away.

_I'll make sure you're mine next time, Survivor._

* * *

**Interesting Facts: 1) Akiko's last name is Kobayashi.**

**2) Akiko is half-Japanese.**

**3) Akiko has an older brother named Mikage.**

**4) The characters of Tiney the Boomer and Brock the Tank were inspired by Takashi (Mori) Morinozuka and Mitsukuni (Hunny) Haninozuka from **_**Ouran High School Host Club**_** by Bisco Hatori.**

**5) My dad was actually the one who gave me the name Tiney.**

**6) Brock the Tank was named after Brock from **_**Pok**__**é**__**mon**_**.**

**7) Tiney the Boomer loves cake just like Mitsukuni (Hunny) Haninozuka, who inspired his character.**

**8) Luigi's favorite food is strawberries.**


End file.
